[NTLUG:Discuss] the breaking point of spam

[Dennis Myhand]

. Daniel wrote:
> Actually, the legislation I'm thinking of would be against PURCHASING many 
> of the products from these vendors.  It's already illegal to do online 
> gambling... to the extent that the federal government has blocked banks and 
> credit card companies from paying to these sites.  (They now use other 
> methods... I know an online gambler who uses some other manner of 
> transferring money to another account... like a paypal account or 
> something.)  But the gambling itself is rarely if ever acted against.
>
> I'm saying they should treat the purchase of controlled substanced with 
> more intensity.  There should be criminal prosecution of people buying 
> drugs online.  Law enforcement should run a spam operation of their own and 
> for anyone who actually attempts to make a transaction, they should be 
> fined (initially).  Later, they should start jailing these 
> people...especially repeat offenders.  If people started seeing that their 
> money was wasted, they wouldn't buy.  If they don't buy, there won't be 
> spamming.
>
>   
>> Neil Aggarwal wrote:
>>
>>     
>>>> Okay and on a more serious note: I hate to say it, but what
>>>> if there were
>>>> legislation introduced?
>>>>         
>>> There has been legislation introduced.  It has been
>>> completely ineffective....
>>>       
>> ...because SPAM may not originate (or end up) in the
>> country that passed the legislation.  If the USA
>> put in place anti-Spam laws with multiple years of
>> imprisonment and hundred thousand dollar fines, just
>> how much of the Spam from Russia, China and Nigeria
>> (to mention but a few) do you think that would that
>> deter?
>>
>>
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>>     
>
>
>
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>   
If you are talking about treating the products offered by spam as a 
controlled substance, I really think you should consider the 
effectiveness of Prohibition, and our current "War on Drugs" before 
seeking to add yet more legislation to the books.  Hell, we can't even 
control a 3000 mile section of the Southern border adequately enough to 
keep out something as big as a human.  How do you police what is being 
discussed through electronic means?  What the government is currently 
doing?  They have search algorithms which look for key phrases.  How 
long do you think it took for people seeking to do evil to use a 
different phrase.  I say just find the spammer and take a sledge hammer 
to their hands.