JPCass
join:2001-01-23
Denver, CO | Give it a chance? It seems to me like if well thought out, a do-not-spam list could be a good solution, in part because it draws a clear distinction between those following the legitimate process and those who are not.
* The spam list would have to be a "black box", where legitimate firms sent their address lists in, and got back only the addresses that were valid, with severe penalties for attempting reverse-engineering.
* It would then be illegal to send commercial e-mail that hadn't been legitimately checked against the list, creating a clear distinction between the good players and the bad. Complaints and honeypots would quickly and certainly identify illegal mailings. The company ultimately benefitting from the commerce generated by the spam would be responsible for hiring legitimate firms to do their work, and could be held responsible if they didn't.
* As an enforcement mechanism, the government could be empowered to work with the electronic payment processors to immediately suspend credit card payments and electronic transfers associated with illegitimate/illegal spam. Whether here or overseas, cut off the money and the spam withers on the vine. Plus once the hassle factor was increased for the credit card companies and electronic transfer companies like PayPal, they'd do more to weed out spammers on their own.
Obviously, solutions would have to be worked out for certain hitches, like being sure someone didn't get put out of business by a competitor spamming under their name. |
