Sounds like Ed "If they aren't guilty, they wouldn't be suspects" Meese.
In America, we are not supposed to be subject to random police action. Sure, the courts have permitted some, but the courts are wrong in those cases. Unless the police have probable cause that I am party to some illegal act (either as suspect or witness), or am involved in some activity which necessitates police(*) surveilance (eg getting on an airplane), then the the police(*) have no right to interfere with my business in any way! If I don't want to talk to them, I shouldn't have to. Period. And that in and of itself is not and should not be cause for them to arrest, detain or otherwise interfere with whatever it is I'm doing.
The US isn't supposed to be a police state, John Ashcroft and the Patriot Act notwithstanding.
(*) In this case, police does not mean police force, but police authority, which includes any government agent such as security screeners, etc.
Exactly. In a truly free system, the government would stay out of the way, and only ensure that the field was level (ie ensuring that contracts were enforced, financial statements are accurate, etc). No subsidies, no special tax breaks, no advantages. Period. Every time a special interest manages to get the government to "assist" it, the market is distorted and the playing field becomes a mine field!
The problem is that American corporations have become so used to tax breaks, subsidies and other special advantages provided by the government, that they no longer have a clue about competing on a level playing field. Add to this the notion that the courts make the best venue to compete (ie crush, delay, deter competition by lawsuit rather than by quality or price).
Protectionism/Mercantilism contributed to the depth of the depression. Import duties, tariffs and other trade restrictions ensured that bad thigns became worse. Choking trade with mercantilist policies is a path to disaster!
The "we don't block email we just create a list" anser is a cop out. If they know that the main use of their list is to block email, then they know that putting an ip/site on the list will cause email to be blocked. Denying this is disingenuous.
The problem is, that nobody knows what the content of the blocked email is. By using local filters, I can dump it all in a holding area (either personal, or company-wide depending on the filter), and review it to see the hit/miss ratio. If the SMTP connections are simply blocked, I have no clue if the mail was legit or not, and no way to find out. And since I run a business that depends on email, I can not take the risk to simply dropping inbound email without at least a chance to review it.
There is nothing wrong with comiling such a list, or making it available. But, SPEWS (and others) must realize (and I am sure that they do) that when their lists are widely used, they are at least partly responsible for the blocking of mail. Denying this does not change the reality of the situation.
In the end, I don't want my ISP blocking ANY email traffic to me, since I then have no way of knowing that such traffic was blocked. SPAM is bad, but blocking email to my email address without me being able to review it is worse.
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If I have a choice of totalitarian government or terrorists, I'll take my chances with the terrorists any day.
Sounds like Ed "If they aren't guilty, they wouldn't be suspects" Meese.
In America, we are not supposed to be subject to random police action. Sure, the courts have permitted some, but the courts are wrong in those cases. Unless the police have probable cause that I am party to some illegal act (either as suspect or witness), or am involved in some activity which necessitates police(*) surveilance (eg getting on an airplane), then the the police(*) have no right to interfere with my business in any way! If I don't want to talk to them, I shouldn't have to. Period. And that in and of itself is not and should not be cause for them to arrest, detain or otherwise interfere with whatever it is I'm doing.
The US isn't supposed to be a police state, John Ashcroft and the Patriot Act notwithstanding.
(*) In this case, police does not mean police force, but police authority, which includes any government agent such as security screeners, etc.
Exactly. In a truly free system, the government would stay out of the way, and only ensure that the field was level (ie ensuring that contracts were enforced, financial statements are accurate, etc). No subsidies, no special tax breaks, no advantages. Period. Every time a special interest manages to get the government to "assist" it, the market is distorted and the playing field becomes a mine field!
The problem is that American corporations have become so used to tax breaks, subsidies and other special advantages provided by the government, that they no longer have a clue about competing on a level playing field. Add to this the notion that the courts make the best venue to compete (ie crush, delay, deter competition by lawsuit rather than by quality or price).
Protectionism/Mercantilism contributed to the depth of the depression. Import duties, tariffs and other trade restrictions ensured that bad thigns became worse. Choking trade with mercantilist policies is a path to disaster!
The "we don't block email we just create a list" anser is a cop out. If they know that the main use of their list is to block email, then they know that putting an ip/site on the list will cause email to be blocked. Denying this is disingenuous.
The problem is, that nobody knows what the content of the blocked email is. By using local filters, I can dump it all in a holding area (either personal, or company-wide depending on the filter), and review it to see the hit/miss ratio. If the SMTP connections are simply blocked, I have no clue if the mail was legit or not, and no way to find out. And since I run a business that depends on email, I can not take the risk to simply dropping inbound email without at least a chance to review it.
There is nothing wrong with comiling such a list, or making it available. But, SPEWS (and others) must realize (and I am sure that they do) that when their lists are widely used, they are at least partly responsible for the blocking of mail. Denying this does not change the reality of the situation.
In the end, I don't want my ISP blocking ANY email traffic to me, since I then have no way of knowing that such traffic was blocked. SPAM is bad, but blocking email to my email address without me being able to review it is worse.