Lawmakers Try to Protect Kids From Spam

Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "Some states have moved to shield children from email peddling porn, alcohol and other adults-only products, the Wall Street Journal reports. Critics say the laws, which establish a registry of kids' email addresses, are unfair to marketers and could create security risks. The debate echoes earlier discussion about a proposed do-not-spam national registry that the Can-Spam Law urged, but which the FTC nixed. This time, though, the registries are moving forward on a state-by-state basis, and facing court challenges from the adult entertainment industry." From the article: "Few email addresses have been placed on the state registries so far. Earlier this week, Utah's registry had 1,992 addresses, and 62 schools had registered their domain names to block emails to student accounts. About 160 companies had submitted their email lists for screening. In Michigan, 3,658 email addresses have been registered, along with 41 school domains. About 170 marketers had applied for screening."

Comments

The problem with this

[RandoX]

It will only work for senders in the US, and that's assuming it would work at all. For the rest of the world, it's a free list of valid email accounts.

Re:Read: Lawmakers try to replace parents entirely

[Rude Turnip]

"I want to run my business utilizing every right I was born with -- including speech. If you don't want my e-mails, you can run a white list and bounce everything not in it. Problem solved, by the free market."

Do it on your own dime...my bandwidth and server space cost me money. Funny how you're all for the "free market" until one of its finer points inconveniences you.

Some Points

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Just some short points:

1. Don't have kids until you can support them yourself (including paying for school, food, clothing and shelter).

The average cost of raising a child is $250,000.

2. Join a church or community group focused on family. Help your neighbors with kids and they'll help you.

The church essentially does what you advocate against the government doing. namely, raising peoples children for them.

3. Understand that raising a child means having one parent at home. If you have a child, stop spending money on toys and vacations and new cars and new clothes. Focus your money on your child's present and future.

Raising children has always entailed both parents working. The single working parent was a concept largely confined to 1950's america. Across the globe and throughout time, both parents have usually needed to work to support a family.

4. Understand that raising a child means constant care. Don't let your child go anywhere without knowing where and with whom. If one parent is home, this is much easier.

See previous point. Also along these lines, in the past, children often worked from quite a young age, usually alongside their parents. The modern school system is in essence an alternative to this, enabling parents to work, without simultaniously supervising their children.

Re:Just what we need.

[Wornstrom]

So, if I submit my email address to this database, and just say it belongs to a kid, I can stop recieving v!@gr@ spam?