Re: Why?

Chris H wrote:
In message <d542d957-ee4f-4fdc-ade2-635fc2ce1dbc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Didi <dp@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes
I don't get it. What is the motivation to causing the newsgroups to
be flooded with these nonsense messages?

My assumption - probably known to some groupmembers from my previous
postings - is that the purpose of the flood is to make most people
sigh with relief when new restrictions on the net are built into
law - which will of course be designed to eliminate spam.

How can these "laws" work? The Internet is international and no one can pass laws for it.

It only needs one country to ignore them and it falls over. We have that situation new where many countries us the "opt in system" for emial lists etc but the US (one of the main sources of spam) uses the "opt out" system.... Most people don't want to "unsubscribe" because if it is the wrong sort of spam it simply validates the address.


The sort of law to which he is referring is the various monitoring and logging laws that are in force, or being introduced, around the world (including the UK and the rest of Europe). The argument goes sort of like this:

Big brother - We want to monitor all your Internet communications.

Users - But that's an invasion of privacy! You are presuming people are guilty until proven innocent, you'll give the data to paranoid countries with no working privacy laws (like the USA), you'll give the data to incompetent state employees who will lose it on CD's and laptops (like in the UK), you'll sell it to marketing companies, you'll give it to the RIAA, etc., etc.

Big brother - Well, yes, but think of the benefits. It will protect your children by eliminating child pornography, it will make the world a safer place by eliminating terrorism, and it will eliminate spam! (Assuming, of course, we get our complete database of everyone's DNA, fingerprints, iris scans, etc., track everyone's car movements, and require an ID card at all times.)

Sheeple - It will eliminate spam? Great, go for it!


Of course, such monitoring will do absolutely nothing to reduce spam, child abuse, terrorism, or any other of societies problems. But when has logic ever played a part?


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The internet & security, a social & political perspective
    ... _Anything like spam_ has been against the law before the ... Austria's laws are even better - have the US ... will paid money to become Prisoners Of Bill. ... >Will the Internet inevitably adopt the traditional U.S. mail laws? ...
    (comp.security.misc)
  • Re: [Full-Disclosure] Spam sent via spambots?
    ... > Does it matter? ... It may help enforcement of current laws or shape ... Obviously laws and enforcement isn't the only means. ... >>> spam messages I have seen lately gets send from DSL or Cable IP addresses. ...
    (Full-Disclosure)
  • Re: One way to combat spam in sci.math ...
    ... One way to combat spam in sci.math ... ... _everyone's_ news reader will sort it correctly doesn't seem applicable. ... sorting is not going to do it. ... the marked posts would at least ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: New BN Site
    ... >>> to get me showered with Spam and viruses. ... >> then tried to blame on this group, just as you tried to blame ... > If I allow my email address to be known on the Internet, ... > that's you being the sort of prat who people should be warned ...
    (uk.rec.naturist)
  • Re: One way to combat spam in sci.math ...
    ... One way to combat spam in sci.math ... ... _everyone's_ news reader will sort it correctly doesn't seem applicable. ... sorting is not going to do it. ... the marked posts would at least clump together ...
    (sci.math)