Trying to block spam by blocking email seeming to originate from specific servers just does not work. Email headers can too easily be forged.
You don't understand how blocking works. It's not a matter of accepting the mail and then filtering - the mail never gets delivered. The IP addresses are in a list, and the sytstem which is blocking mail from those addresses looks to see if an IP is in the blocked list as soon as it receives a connection. If the IP isn't in the list, it accepts the mail. If the IP is in the list, it says "Sorry, your IP is blocked" and drops the connection.
I don't want to sound like I'm promoting blocking, as I see both pros and cons. But header forgery such as you describe isn't relevant.
Is there a fundamental difference between e-mail spam and these "real world" forms of unsolicited advertisment, other than the degree to which we are annoyed by each?
Yes. In the real-world examples you give, the cost is paid by the advertiser. In the case of email spam, the cost is paid by the recipient.
By definition:
Free speech: the right to express one's opinions publicly.
You have the right to say anything you want. Whether I agree or not is not relevant. However, if I catch you painting it on the side of my house, claiming "Free Speech" isn't going to keep me from busting your head with a baseball bat.
Maybe you could break into the local radio station and broadcast whatever you want? After all, you have the right to free speech!
Want to sell viagra, pr0n, pen1s enlargement crap? Fine - set up a website. Want to email your ads? No problem - as long as you are sending to an opt in list. But forcing your crap on people isn't free speech - it's just cheap for you because all of us who are receiving it have to pay the cost of the bandwidth, storage space, and time in getting rid of the crap.
Expressing your opinion in public is not the same as forcing someone to listen, or forcing them to pay for your advertising.
That was your first sentence, and you're already wrong.
We are providing a service that keeps an economy afloat and is vital to a large number of companies, even some that don't know it. Our UCC is targetted at specific entities and never sent to those who it would not apply to. On the other hand, most spam mail is trivial crap and unexclusive in it's targetting. There is a market and reason for our UCC, whereas spam is just annoying and only takes advantage of the ignorant.
That's the spammers mantra. "My unsolicited email isn't spam!".
That's not spam, because we're contacting genuine potential customers.
Every spammer is trying to contact potential customers. Every spammer says "My email isn't spam." Every spammer lies.
That's a fairly legitimate use, right?
No. It's just spam. When you're company gets listed by SPEWS, Spamcop, and the other major blacklists, you'll find that many systems won't acccpet your email - and it will be your own fault.
If I went and dumped one billion pieces of junk mail into the mail box at the post office, intervention by the post office keeps it from automatically sending that junk mail from going to every person out there--they would just trash it and probably come arrest or fine me.
You must be from Zanzibar or someplace.
Here in the US, the postal service does exactly that every day.
The only good thing that I can say will come from this is the fact that it will be much easier to distinguish spam from newsletters - however, this is a temporary solution, because the Spammers will easily have enough resources to learn how to generate false reports.
RSS doesn't rely on email in any way, shape, or form. It isn't a "push" system at all. The publisher doesn't send it to you, or me, or anyone. He posts it on his website. Your RSS reader pulls that data and displays it to you.
Everything you posted makes it sound as if you have no clue about what RSS is and just typed nonsense.
Also, how come we don't have cars that can drive themself on the interstate? It doesn't seem like it would be hard at all, since they could just implement sensors into an interstate quite simply since it is all managed by the government, an open standard could be created by the Govt, and all the car companies could follow.
In the US, this would lead to a legal nightmare. I doubt it is as simple as you seem to believe, but I do believe that it could be done. We'll never see it because of the legal risk.
Yes, you get tons of spam trying to sell Symantec products. I do to. I think that is part of their marketing plan, which is why I won't do business with them.
It only seems fair that I expect to pay only once per software package. After all, I'm one guy; I'm never typing on both machines at the same time.
It sounds to me like you are describing the Borland No Nonsense License. They've used it for years. I think they used to use the term "Like a book" to describe it. They allow you to install you copy on multiple machines, as long as there is only one person using the software at a time. I'm sure if you google for it, you can find info.
Spam isn't anything like _forcing_ your way into a house.
No, it's like knocking on the door, every 30 seconds, 24 hours a day, hoping that the homeowner will buy your crap. Except that knocking on doors means spammers can't hide, and it would take them a lot of time, instead of emailing 1 million people while they watch TV.
Truthful spam is ok.
Not with me. There are *lots* of businesses in the US. If 10% of those businesses sent me 1 email every month, the time waste would be enourmous. And that time would be wasted regardless of whether they are telling the truth or not. And knowing spammers, chances are, they aren't telling the truth.
So, you sit in front of a computer all day, like many here on/. That isn't likely to change.
What do you do when you are not at work? If you go home and sit in front of the TV for several hours, that isn't helping. If the beer you say you drink is either sitting at a bar or sitting at home, that isn't helping.
I'd recommend a hobby. I'm a programmer, and I have used juggling as a fun way to get some excercise. Juggling is pretty good excercise - mostly from picking up props.:^) I also throw darts and shoot pool, which aren't the best excercises I could pick, but they beat sitting on the couch or in a movie theatre. I decided a long time ago that I spent enough time sitting, and I didn't want hobbies that encouraged it.
Consider dancing - that's good excercise and you can still drink your beer.
My point is that you are not likely to change your 9-10 hour days of sitting in front of a computer, any more than I am. But you can make sure that the time you spend *outside* the office is on hobbies that burn some calories and give you some excercise. Going to a gym is great, if you'll do it regularly. But if you can find a hobby which gives you some excercise and at the same time is something you enjoy, you'll get a lot more out of it.
Me? I'm 6', 180, and a little overweight. (Every bit of extra weight I have shows up in my stomach.) I don't diet. I don't go to the gym. I drink beer, and soda, but have never been tempted by chips, cookies, cakes, ice-cream, etc. I ran a lot when I was younger, but haven't done much of that in years.
When someone needs a database application written, they have a need and hire people to take care of that need. When someone needs a house moved, once again, they hire people to do that.
I'm not opposed to lawyers making money when they perform a legitimate service. In this case, they are filing the lawsuit so that they can make money, and nobody else gains anything. Nobody hired them, and nobody else comes out ahead regardless, yet the lawyers who filed the suit because they expect to profit.
I'm sure the lawyers will come out ahead on this one. Nobody else is going to win.
This entire thread is an advertisement for ferencelaw.com. I'm not a fan of doubleclick due to their privacy practices, but their popups come when you visit a webpage that chose to show them, not because they hacked into your computer. This is just another frivolous lawsuit because some lawyer doesn't have enough to do.
The problem with these old beasts is that they stayed powered up and hot to be able to print quickly at any time.
My printer is one of those old beasts. It's an HP Laserjet 4000. I don't print daily, so I usually turn it off, unlike my computer which runs 24/7. I just timed it, and from the time I hit the "On" switch, it takes 22 seconds to get powered up, initialized, etc. After that 22 seconds, it's ready to print, and if you're printing more than a page or two, it'll make up that 22 seconds because it prints faster.
So you don't have to leave it on all the time if you don't print often.
Also, if I leave it running without printing anything for awhile, it goes into a energy-saving "Standby" mode.
We have absolutely forbidden any staff from posting or writing anything for Howard Dean and then post it under his name.
Did that happen after your campaign sent email spam in his name, or after?
how do you know this is really me?
I (and the rest of/.) don't have any idea. What we do know is that you created an account to post to this thread, and that you've never posted under that ID before. Since then you've posted three times, all to this thread, and two of those duplicates. If you believe that helps your credibility, then you are not paying attention.
The biggest challenge is to cut through people's cynicism
And the first time I heard of your campaign, it was because of an article explaining how you sent email spam. Sorry, but being cynical around spammers has paid off in the past. And I don't trust politicians much more than I trust spammers.
I am not a crook.
Read my lips - no new taxes.
I did not have sex with that woman.
Weapons of Mass Destruction!
Re: Our Previous Conversation.
Half Off V1agra! mteu cj
RE: Your medications
Printer Cartridges - You Pay No Shipping Costs - Up To 80 Percent Off Retail
Someone Is Trying To Reach You qfzegrplzlzflp l
Sorry, but both the polititians and the spammers lie. The Dean campaign is both. And I am a cynic. Show me something other than lies and recently created/. ID's.
Apart from giving the NYT your e-mail addy for spam purposes, what real point is there to free registration?
I've been registered with the NYTimes for several years, using a tagged address. No spam has ever been sent to that address.
And as you complain about registration, I notice that you didn't post to/. as AC, which means you are registered here at/. So am I. I get no spam to that address, either.
Last time I checked I was using the WORLD Wide Web, and there seems little point wasting bandwidth to post your website to the world when only those living in the USA can buy and/or use the product.
Your telephone can call mine, too. That doesn't mean I have to do business with you. Get over it.
So... Do you know where Hungary is? Can you find it on a map? Without Google?
It's SouthEast of Germany, I believe.
But your question doesn't make a lot of sense, overall. Why would I have a map of Europe? I've never been there, and likely never will. I don't have a map of Oklahoma or Louisiana, either, and they are within a 4-5 hours drive. If I need a map, I can get the info online. You seem to think that's a sin.
Do you have a map of Texas? Can you find Luchenbach without using Google? Don't worry about it. If you need to find Luchenbach, you are allowed to use Google. And until you need to find it, it doesn't matter if you don't know where it is.
And you remember that little thing called the www invented at CERN? The idea was to have a simple, human readable and specified interface that was manchine and nationality independent so that everyone in the world could use it.
And everyone can use it. However, not everyone that uses it is forced to do business with everyone else that uses it.
This is company specific. Some companies will want to do overseas business. Some won't. Some will have the resources to do it. Some won't. Some will consider the risk of fraud, shipping requirements, and legal issues to be too much trouble for the possible profit. Others won't.
Some sites are clearly not designed for foreign business. I run a site for a dart pub in Dallas. It's not likely to interest people in Hungary. (Though if you want to come throw some darts, you're welcome...) I run a site for jugglers in the Texas area. I don't try to keep up with every juggling event in the world - just those in my area.
It's silly to whine "It's the WORLD wide web" and complain that not everyone does what you want. That's life. Deal with it.
Since the net is PRIMARILY a visual media, blind people would naturally be discrtminated against.
Says who? It's primarly a digital media. And digital information (text, etc.) can be represented in any number of ways, a monitor is just one of them (think braille lines, text-to-speech software, etc.)
And the pictures that are being used in these tests are digital. But they are also visual, just as the text I'm writing will be transmitted digitally.
Blind people don't need to do this at every site they visit. I can only recall one time that I've had to use one, ever. It seems to me that if a blind person needs to set up a new Hotmail account, he can get a friend to help. He can do that by having a friend come by and help him get signed up, or by emailing a friend and asking them to create a new hotmail account for him. Once the account is created, he doesn't have to keep passing the test in order to use the account.
I don't believe these tests will be effective in the long run, no matter how they are implemented. Spammers will simply hire cheap labor to do the work, or they will develop software which can pass the test. It will, however, slow down the spammers for awhile.
I also don't beleive that blind people are being denied access to the net because a small number of websites use this type of authentication when you create a new account.
If you are blind, you have certain limitations. That isn't everyone elses fault. Reasonable accomodations should be made, when possible. Demanding unreasonable accomodations just mean you are whining.
In fact, that's how our representative republic works. At least, millions of people doing activity X tends to make it legal.
Hasn't worked for the millions of pot smokers being persecuted in the name of the children.
Similarly, speeding is illegal, but judging by the traffic I see, it's not just common, it's the norm. However, despite the fact that almost everyone does it, it is still illegal.
Slashdot Mirror
You don't understand how blocking works. It's not a matter of accepting the mail and then filtering - the mail never gets delivered. The IP addresses are in a list, and the sytstem which is blocking mail from those addresses looks to see if an IP is in the blocked list as soon as it receives a connection. If the IP isn't in the list, it accepts the mail. If the IP is in the list, it says "Sorry, your IP is blocked" and drops the connection.
I don't want to sound like I'm promoting blocking, as I see both pros and cons. But header forgery such as you describe isn't relevant.
Yes. In the real-world examples you give, the cost is paid by the advertiser. In the case of email spam, the cost is paid by the recipient.
By definition:
Free speech: the right to express one's opinions publicly.
You have the right to say anything you want. Whether I agree or not is not relevant. However, if I catch you painting it on the side of my house, claiming "Free Speech" isn't going to keep me from busting your head with a baseball bat.
Maybe you could break into the local radio station and broadcast whatever you want? After all, you have the right to free speech!
Want to sell viagra, pr0n, pen1s enlargement crap? Fine - set up a website. Want to email your ads? No problem - as long as you are sending to an opt in list. But forcing your crap on people isn't free speech - it's just cheap for you because all of us who are receiving it have to pay the cost of the bandwidth, storage space, and time in getting rid of the crap.
Expressing your opinion in public is not the same as forcing someone to listen, or forcing them to pay for your advertising.
That was your first sentence, and you're already wrong.
We are providing a service that keeps an economy afloat and is vital to a large number of companies, even some that don't know it. Our UCC is targetted at specific entities and never sent to those who it would not apply to. On the other hand, most spam mail is trivial crap and unexclusive in it's targetting. There is a market and reason for our UCC, whereas spam is just annoying and only takes advantage of the ignorant.
That's the spammers mantra. "My unsolicited email isn't spam!".
Every spammer is trying to contact potential customers. Every spammer says "My email isn't spam." Every spammer lies.
That's a fairly legitimate use, right?
No. It's just spam. When you're company gets listed by SPEWS, Spamcop, and the other major blacklists, you'll find that many systems won't acccpet your email - and it will be your own fault.
Here in the US, the postal service does exactly that every day.
RSS doesn't rely on email in any way, shape, or form. It isn't a "push" system at all. The publisher doesn't send it to you, or me, or anyone. He posts it on his website. Your RSS reader pulls that data and displays it to you.
Everything you posted makes it sound as if you have no clue about what RSS is and just typed nonsense.
In the US, this would lead to a legal nightmare. I doubt it is as simple as you seem to believe, but I do believe that it could be done. We'll never see it because of the legal risk.
Yes, you get tons of spam trying to sell Symantec products. I do to. I think that is part of their marketing plan, which is why I won't do business with them.
It sounds to me like you are describing the Borland No Nonsense License. They've used it for years. I think they used to use the term "Like a book" to describe it. They allow you to install you copy on multiple machines, as long as there is only one person using the software at a time. I'm sure if you google for it, you can find info.
Slashdot Congress! Hack the Planet!
No, it's like knocking on the door, every 30 seconds, 24 hours a day, hoping that the homeowner will buy your crap. Except that knocking on doors means spammers can't hide, and it would take them a lot of time, instead of emailing 1 million people while they watch TV.
Truthful spam is ok.
Not with me. There are *lots* of businesses in the US. If 10% of those businesses sent me 1 email every month, the time waste would be enourmous. And that time would be wasted regardless of whether they are telling the truth or not. And knowing spammers, chances are, they aren't telling the truth.What do you do when you are not at work? If you go home and sit in front of the TV for several hours, that isn't helping. If the beer you say you drink is either sitting at a bar or sitting at home, that isn't helping.
I'd recommend a hobby. I'm a programmer, and I have used juggling as a fun way to get some excercise. Juggling is pretty good excercise - mostly from picking up props. :^) I also throw darts and shoot pool, which aren't the best excercises I could pick, but they beat sitting on the couch or in a movie theatre. I decided a long time ago that I spent enough time sitting, and I didn't want hobbies that encouraged it.
Consider dancing - that's good excercise and you can still drink your beer.
My point is that you are not likely to change your 9-10 hour days of sitting in front of a computer, any more than I am. But you can make sure that the time you spend *outside* the office is on hobbies that burn some calories and give you some excercise. Going to a gym is great, if you'll do it regularly. But if you can find a hobby which gives you some excercise and at the same time is something you enjoy, you'll get a lot more out of it.
Me? I'm 6', 180, and a little overweight. (Every bit of extra weight I have shows up in my stomach.) I don't diet. I don't go to the gym. I drink beer, and soda, but have never been tempted by chips, cookies, cakes, ice-cream, etc. I ran a lot when I was younger, but haven't done much of that in years.
I'm not opposed to lawyers making money when they perform a legitimate service. In this case, they are filing the lawsuit so that they can make money, and nobody else gains anything. Nobody hired them, and nobody else comes out ahead regardless, yet the lawyers who filed the suit because they expect to profit.
This entire thread is an advertisement for ferencelaw.com. I'm not a fan of doubleclick due to their privacy practices, but their popups come when you visit a webpage that chose to show them, not because they hacked into your computer. This is just another frivolous lawsuit because some lawyer doesn't have enough to do.
My printer is one of those old beasts. It's an HP Laserjet 4000. I don't print daily, so I usually turn it off, unlike my computer which runs 24/7. I just timed it, and from the time I hit the "On" switch, it takes 22 seconds to get powered up, initialized, etc. After that 22 seconds, it's ready to print, and if you're printing more than a page or two, it'll make up that 22 seconds because it prints faster.
So you don't have to leave it on all the time if you don't print often.
Also, if I leave it running without printing anything for awhile, it goes into a energy-saving "Standby" mode.
Your argument just doesn't hold up.
Did that happen after your campaign sent email spam in his name, or after?
how do you know this is really me?
I (and the rest of /.) don't have any idea. What we do know is that you created an account to post to this thread, and that you've never posted under that ID before. Since then you've posted three times, all to this thread, and two of those duplicates. If you believe that helps your credibility, then you are not paying attention.
The biggest challenge is to cut through people's cynicism
And the first time I heard of your campaign, it was because of an article explaining how you sent email spam. Sorry, but being cynical around spammers has paid off in the past. And I don't trust politicians much more than I trust spammers.
I am not a crook.
Read my lips - no new taxes.
I did not have sex with that woman.
Weapons of Mass Destruction!
Re: Our Previous Conversation.
Half Off V1agra! mteu cj
RE: Your medications
Printer Cartridges - You Pay No Shipping Costs - Up To 80 Percent Off Retail
Someone Is Trying To Reach You qfzegrplzlzflp l
Sorry, but both the polititians and the spammers lie. The Dean campaign is both. And I am a cynic. Show me something other than lies and recently created /. ID's.
I've been registered with the NYTimes for several years, using a tagged address. No spam has ever been sent to that address.
And as you complain about registration, I notice that you didn't post to /. as AC, which means you are registered here at /. So am I. I get no spam to that address, either.
See http://www.unicom.com/chrome/a/000294.html for more information.
Last time I checked I was using the WORLD Wide Web, and there seems little point wasting bandwidth to post your website to the world when only those living in the USA can buy and/or use the product.
Your telephone can call mine, too. That doesn't mean I have to do business with you. Get over it.
It's SouthEast of Germany, I believe.
But your question doesn't make a lot of sense, overall. Why would I have a map of Europe? I've never been there, and likely never will. I don't have a map of Oklahoma or Louisiana, either, and they are within a 4-5 hours drive. If I need a map, I can get the info online. You seem to think that's a sin.
Do you have a map of Texas? Can you find Luchenbach without using Google? Don't worry about it. If you need to find Luchenbach, you are allowed to use Google. And until you need to find it, it doesn't matter if you don't know where it is.
And everyone can use it. However, not everyone that uses it is forced to do business with everyone else that uses it.
This is company specific. Some companies will want to do overseas business. Some won't. Some will have the resources to do it. Some won't. Some will consider the risk of fraud, shipping requirements, and legal issues to be too much trouble for the possible profit. Others won't.
Some sites are clearly not designed for foreign business. I run a site for a dart pub in Dallas. It's not likely to interest people in Hungary. (Though if you want to come throw some darts, you're welcome...) I run a site for jugglers in the Texas area. I don't try to keep up with every juggling event in the world - just those in my area.
It's silly to whine "It's the WORLD wide web" and complain that not everyone does what you want. That's life. Deal with it.
Good plan. Let's all learn the basics of the legal system by watching movies. The folks writing movies wouldn't mislead us...
Similarly, speeding is illegal, but judging by the traffic I see, it's not just common, it's the norm. However, despite the fact that almost everyone does it, it is still illegal.