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The First Step Toward Getting E-Mail Back The Way It Used to Be
10/8/2003
Tell your friend how sick Americans are of spam, and maybe even gently work into the conversation that there seems to be a public sense of growing impatience among Americans, and oh my, on a completely different subject, wasn't that recall of Governor Davis in California something? Gee, must be sort of unsettling to see that sort of thing, huh? Voters can be so impatient, can't they?
Did I mention how big a problem spam has become, and how sick Americans have become waiting for federal action on spam?
2. Congressmen and senators, in addition to not being e-mail people, sometimes have a hard time keeping things simple.
Short bills aren't taken as seriously as long bills. Unless we have extensive hearings, we don't have enough information to act. Let me ask the Congressional Research Service for a study. Need a fiscal impact study on that one. Etc., etc., etc.
Congressmen and senators need to fight that urge when it comes to spam and just do something very simple: expand the junk FAX law already on the books (47 U.S.C. 227) to also cover e-mail.
That's it. Period. Finito. End of story. No need for complicated gyrations, no need for new bureaucracies or higher taxes.
Just extend the no-junk-FAX law to also cover e-mail, declare victory, and suddenly lots of people will want to make sure you stay in office as their friend and obviously brilliant representative in Washington DC.
If the federal government d'esn't act, states will. Even Oregon has passed an anti-spam bill this past term, SB910 (http://pub.das.state.or.us/LEG_BILLS/PDFs/ESB910.pdf) providing for $500-per-spam penalties for selected types of spam. If little old backwoods Oregon can pass an anti-spam law, surely the mighty federal government can spit one out, too!
3. There is one more component to all this that people need
to understand. Virtually all the spam you're receiving is being sent by only
a couple hundred spammers, and they're virtually all Americans. We even know
who they are and what ISPs are connecting them. :::::: SECURITY SPOTLIGHT :::::: CAMPUS SECURITY NEWS :::::: CASE STUDY :: Cornell Takes Visual Approach to Data Analysis :::::: IT NEWS :::::: EXECUTIVE VIEW : Delta iTunes U Enhances Learning in a Familiar Web 2.0 Environment :::::: WORTH NOTING : Caltech Completes Parking Structure Solar Array :::::: TECHNOLOGY TRENDS :::::: NEWS and PRODUCT UPDATES :::::: NEWS :::::: CASE STUDY :: Small College Makes Big Leap in Wireless :::::: IT NEWS
This spam cartel has lived and operated from the U.S. with virtual impunity
for far too long. If the federal government wanted to, they could go after these
spammers and their ISPs and you'd see your spam rate plummet.
Heck, Spamhaus even will get them started in the right direction; see their
Roster of Known Spam Operatives at http://www.spamhaus.org/rokso.
Why not encourage the government to think about doing so? Maybe they'll listen
if enough of us ask, even if we don't play golf at the country club with the
Congressman.
Remember: e-mail can start going back to the way it used to be, if you help
Congress and the federal bureaucracy "kick start their engines" a
little. The no-call list and the no-junk-fax list laws are steps in the right
direction, but the time has come to deal with e-mail spam, and with e-mail spammers.
-------------------
So, don’t let’s just feel helpless about this. Sure, the technology
tools that we’re all working on or implementing feel more like something
we can do, but I agree with J'e completely. Few federal-level legislators really
understand what it’s like to get and send e-mail first-hand, and none
are likely to be in a position where their staff lets them be "bothered"
by sorting through hundreds of spam messages.
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