"It's beyond my comprehension why anyone would buy anything from spam."
How many guys are so desperate for a larger penis that they would try anything - even spam!! Maybe 2 in 100? Yes, that includes those who tweak their spam filters every day to keep the stuff out!! They know its a fraud, but they just can't resist.
As Robert DeNiro said, "Don't let the little head think for the big one."
I'm no expert on internet protocols, but it seems to me that some simple things could be done, both technical and organizational, to stop most of the spam. The technical steps would be to ensure that the headers which are added to the top of each email along the route are valid. With valid "Received:" headers, showing the IP address and timestamp of each relay, it should be possible to identify most spammers, or at least their ISPs.
The organizational part is the hardest. ISPs can block their own users from sending spam, but the problem is those few ISPs who won't cooperate. It is those ISPs which will have to be effectively "blacklisted". This should involve an industry committee, which could listen to the offending ISP's excuses, and make a decision which is fair. Either we do it ourselves, or governments will do it for us. If you think the burden is too much on ISPs having to block spam from their own users, imagine the internet a few years from now with regulations as onerous as TV and radio broadcasters have now.
I would much prefer self regulation, limiting the government's role to just prosecuting spammers who fake their identities.
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"It's beyond my comprehension why anyone would buy anything from spam."
How many guys are so desperate for a larger penis that they would try anything - even spam!! Maybe 2 in 100? Yes, that includes those who tweak their spam filters every day to keep the stuff out!! They know its a fraud, but they just can't resist.
As Robert DeNiro said, "Don't let the little head think for the big one."
I'm no expert on internet protocols, but it seems to me that some simple things could be done, both technical and organizational, to stop most of the spam. The technical steps would be to ensure that the headers which are added to the top of each email along the route are valid. With valid "Received:" headers, showing the IP address and timestamp of each relay, it should be possible to identify most spammers, or at least their ISPs. The organizational part is the hardest. ISPs can block their own users from sending spam, but the problem is those few ISPs who won't cooperate. It is those ISPs which will have to be effectively "blacklisted". This should involve an industry committee, which could listen to the offending ISP's excuses, and make a decision which is fair. Either we do it ourselves, or governments will do it for us. If you think the burden is too much on ISPs having to block spam from their own users, imagine the internet a few years from now with regulations as onerous as TV and radio broadcasters have now. I would much prefer self regulation, limiting the government's role to just prosecuting spammers who fake their identities.