Another Anti-Spam Effort Groups strive to clear out your inbox Two business groups are introducing new measures to deal with spam. While both groups aim to separate "responsible marketing pitches" from "spam", they of course are using 2 different methods (digital postmarks, and a digital "do-not-call" list). Neither will have any effect on or control over spammers who choose not to comply. 18 states have already enacted anti-spam measures; these efforts are probably designed to head off a federal crackdown, which failed in the House last year. The story is in Reuters.
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  Copzilla$Mmm... Donuts
join:2000-10-10
Friendswood, TX |  I don't care what they do...
I HATE spam email, and unfortunately, I'm not given much choice about whether I get it or not. A national opt-out list, digital postmarks, whatever, spam needs to DIE.
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"Free your mind and your behind will follow" - The iBrotha | |
|  |  Ben CiscoEmbrace IntellectPremium
join:2001-12-13
Wormhole | Re: I don't care what they do... I hope that the most severe means possible of dealing with them is found and implemented immediately. I mean get absolutely MEDIEVAL on their butts. Perhaps, as in colonial days, public humiliation is in order. Check this out: http://petemoss.com/spamflames/ShifmanIsAMoronSpammer.html...
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The views expressed here may not directly reflect those of my employer, Charter Communications. | |
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| | Crackdown is what we needquote:
18 states have already enacted anti-spam measures; these efforts are probably designed to head off a federal crackdown.
Why on earth would anyone want to head off a federal crackdown?
Let this problem get bad enough that George Dubya himself is so offended by mail-order bestiality that he gets in on the crackdown action.
This would be something useful for Ashcroft's storm-troopers to pursue.
Bring on the anti-spam cops! Root out and shut down all spammers! Limit this not just to the "federal" level but the "global"!
Let's start off with the $11,000 fine proposed by the FTC for folks who violate a do-not-call list. Then let's start hauling spammers off to that Guantanamo prison in Cuba. | |
| | six9
join:2001-12-03
Atlanta, GA | Re: Crackdown is what we need I think instead of some agency getting the fine money, the person "injured" should get the money. I am so damn sick of seeing penis enlargement, viagra, and university diploma spam it isn't funny. I don't need the first, therefore don't need the second and already have the third. If I could sue those bastards for 11 grand for each instance and have a chance to collect, I would. Regarding telemarketers, if nothing else those assholes should be required to release their caller id. And I should be able to recoup money lost by them interrupting me only to hang up as soon as I say "hello". Man they are annoying. At least spam can be filtered at the email client. If only there was a way to direct any "UNAVAILABLE" calls to a device that would give the disconnect tone. | |
| | | mr2nut
join:2001-01-08
Fair Oaks, CA | Re: Crackdown is what we need My God do I agree!! I get 4 calls a week from windshield companies asking me if any of my vehicles have a cracked one... when in the hell did they get this bright sales approach??
This quote from the article:
"Because it's a voluntary program, it's not going to stop the vast majority of unscrupulous spammers who are only going to be stopped by the law," said Catlett, CEO of Junkbusters Corp.
Makes me laugh... 99% of spammers hide behind bogus AOL accounts and will probably never be caught, but regardless, what spammer is going to "Volunteer" to stop harassing folks if that's his/her livelihood?
This plan won't work for another reason:
Almost every piece of spam I get now has a notice at the bottom that roughly says "This message is not unsolicited. Your email address was given to us from a partner company, (or you signed up for correspondence at a partner site), or someone entered your email address at our site...blah blah"
So in other words, they've found a neat loophole of saying that somehow they got your email address and/or permission legally - and it's your word against their's. How can you be so sure that your bank didn't sell you out? Or that latest X-Box contest you entered didn't get you into this? So spammers can pretty much say they got it from some source and get away with it.
They should be hung by their nuts. | |
| | | |  Traal
join:2000-10-19
Mesa, AZ
 ·BroadVoice
| Re: Crackdown is what we need said by mr2nut:
...a notice at the bottom that roughly says "This message is not unsolicited"...How can you be so sure that your bank didn't sell you out?
I'd be happy if releasing personal information (including name, address, telephone #, e-mail address, etc.) were prohibited without the consent of that person. Most (95-99%) of the spammers who have my e-mail address probably bought it as part of a list on CD-ROM from somebody else. And many of them consolidate those lists and sell them again to somebody else. The cycle continues, and there's NO way to stop the flow of spam to that e-mail address.
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/* The green code always compiles. */ | |
| | | | | | "So in other words, they've found a neat loophole of saying that somehow they got your email address and/or permission legally - and it's your word against their's. How can you be so sure that your bank didn't sell you out? Or that latest X-Box contest you entered didn't get you into this? So spammers can pretty much say they got it from some source and get away with it."
Simple as this - if you didn't ask for it, it's spam. It may or may not be "legal" but it's almost certainly against the AUP of the ISP they used to send it. Complain to the ISP and the ISP's upstream, if necessary. My email address is mine - just telling it to someone else doesn't make it theirs to pass on. This is part of the DMA (direct marketing assn.) plan to try to force-feed advertising to you 24/7. Opt-out is BS, and it'll never work. You opt out of my breast/penis/wallet enlargement offers today? Fine. Tomorrow, the company name changes & you get to opt out again. | |
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| | | | Several states have do not call lists. You can find GA's at www.ganocall.com. You can sign up online. It costs 5 bucks for 2 two years. Telemarketers can be fined $2000 per call for calling someone on the no call list. | |
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| | Be careful what you wish for Is anyone else bothered by "aim to separate responsible marketing pitches from the "spam" ".
In the process of cracking down on "illegitimate marketing pitches" I fear we are going to further legitimize the idea that users are consumers to be flooded by endless advertising by the business community. The dark side of defining clear lines here is that you are reinforcing social acceptance of things on the right side of the line. You can be sure that line will be drawn in a way that works to the advantage of the business world. In a world of spyware, tracking and targeted marketing, spam is a less intrusive, though annoying problem. Are we going to legitimize the former things while drawing a line in the sand to stop the latter? | |
| | | | Re: Be careful what you wish for I agree. We don't want ANY SPAM!
Another issue----
Who gets to see this list again of almost every valid email address in the country?
You know it will contain 99% of all the email addresses of everyone in the country, don't you? NOBODY WANTS SPAM!
I almost think it is simply an attempt to have everyone volunteer their info so they can be put in a database for some other use.
Hummmmmm...
The bottom line trusted and true way to stop spam (or limit it) is to only give friends and family a "real address" and use a throwaway account for anything on the internet.
If someone gets your real one, simply delete it and get another.
This also is a prime example why my 2 dogs get more credit card offers and other junk mail at my home than I do.
i bet they have more credit than I do by now. | |
| | | | | Re: Be careful what you wish for said by kilingspam:
The bottom line trusted and true way to stop spam (or limit it) is to only give friends and family a "real address" and use a throwaway account for anything on the internet.
If someone gets your real one, simply delete it and get another.
Call me old-fashioned, but I want people who have fallen out of touch with me to be able to get back in touch a year from now, a decade from now, or a lifetime from now.
I've kept the same phone number for a gazillion years, and my primary email address has also been constant for a gazillion years.
I'm hoping that authorities will step in and let me keep it that way.
There is hope, IMHO, because my anti-solicitation crusade against junk phone calls has worked. Do-not-call lists are actually semi-effective; my phone is a lot quieter than my email in-box.
I do not want to throw in the towel and "get a new email address"--that would, in essence, let the terrorists win. I would be poorer, spiritually, in my old age as long-time friends who might otherwise be able to reach me no longer could. | |
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| six9
join:2001-12-03
Atlanta, GA | said by careful:
Is anyone else bothered by "aim to separate responsible marketing pitches from the "spam" ".
I can see how that can be troubling. While I consider it irresponsible marketing for a company who knows nothing about me to try to sell me "videos of girls and dogs, viagra, penis enlargement, university diplomas and weight loss solutions", the companies might say "well people need those things." I don't need the first (it's sickening,), don't need the second (I'm young and fine as I am), don't need the third (at least according to some women), have the fourth (cost me a helluva lot more than the ones online I'm sure), and I'm fine with my weight. So obviously I do NOT need any of them.
What is the line that would determine what is legitimate and illegitimate? That is the question.
I think we should be able to sue the livin hell out of the ISP's these things come from. I would love to sue WANADOO INTERACTIVE because of their asshole users trying to peddle diet products to me. I think that if the ISPs allow it, they should pay me for the inconvenience of receiving this crap. I don't want it, I never asked for it. Luckily I've filtered out the major subject headers these idiots use. Thank God for email filters and spam repositiories such as Go.com and hotmail.com. As I said in another post. If only there were phone filters as well. | |
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 WildGodGod Is DeadPremium
join:2002-01-30
NYC | SPAM HATERS TRY THIS If no one is gonna do anything about Spam, than we the victims should. I use a program called "spambusters" which will check the header info and create an email to send the spammers isp urging them to shut them down.
I also found this great article on the net and may even help you get some money from spammers
REALLY COOL IDEA:
»www.junkbusters.com/spam.html | |
| | | | Re: SPAM HATERS TRY THIS said by wildxgod:
I use a program called "spambusters" which will check the header info and create an email to send the spammers isp urging them to shut them down...
That strategy stopped working in 1999 or so.
As spam grew out of control, the volume of complaints rose to the point that ISP managers could no longer keep up.
This is especially true of the big ones like Earthlink and AOL. Unless they have a law to point to, or some way of making money with anti-spam control measures, there just isn't any way they'll deploy staff to deal with spam complaints. It costs them money so they just plain don't respond.
Smaller ISPs do still implement successful anti-spam controls.
The other issue is this: open relays are widely deployed outside the USA. Even a law won't stop those from working, unless it has sufficient teeth to shut down the transit links to entire sovereign nations. | |
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 dvd536as Mr. Pink as they comePremium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
kudos:4 | Hit em Hit em where it hurts. find their order line 800# and call them on their dime requesting to be removed from their lists. | |
| | | While they're at it..... ...Can we take a whack at pop-ups too? Advertising definitly has its place on the internet but not this way. There are some sites I will not visit just because everytime I click a link I get bombarded with pop-ups. I know there are programs available but this is out of line. Both pop-ups and spam have gotten out of control. | |
| | | | Re: While they're at it..... I agree. I have a 3-year old daughter who loves to go to the Nick Jr. web site to play the Flash games. Only problems is, a Verzion banner pops up constantly whenever she clicks on a new link. For the life of me, I can't understand while in the hell Nick Jr. would have pop-up banner ads when they know full well the majority of their hits are coming from children. I don't so much mind header banner ads, but the pop-ups are just ridiculous! | |
| | | | | Re: While they're at it..... My niece is the same age as your daughter and she constantly gets frustrated to tears because she cannot get around the site by herself. Your right about Nick Jr though, they should be more aware of their target audience. I guess they count on having the parents around when their children are using the internet. | |
| | | | amdaceBOHICA
join:2001-02-02
Livonia, MI | Re: While they're at it..... Here is a website with a free program that stops popups in their tracks. www.panicware.com
I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and it does the trick.
Don't stop with killing popups though, stop all of those tracking networks too.
IDCIDE makes an exceptional IE plugin that stops ALL tracking (including DSLReports with its doubleclick tracker).
»www.idcide.com/pages/per_intro.htm
If people serious about protecting their privacy on the internet, they have to take some of the responsibility themselves and read the privacy statements on websites. If they don't agree with how their info will be used, don't supply them with any. I have always had multiple email addresses, ones I use to give to legit contacts and one I use on websites. It may be "inconvenient" at times but I can always abandon my "web" accounts when the spam gets to be too overwhelming. | |
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 newviewEx .. Ex .. ExactlyPremium
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD
kudos:1
·Vonage
 ·DIRECTV
| Confirmed opt-in is the ONLY acceptable opt-in There is no such thing as "responsible marketing pitches". If I didn't ask for it, then its spam. The ONLY acceptable way to opt-in is confirmed opt-in, in which a confirmation email is sent after your email address is subscribed, indicating that you must reply in order to be subscribed. No reply, no subscription, and the email address is dropped from the database. Anything short of this is open to abuse. This protects the marketer as well as the subscriber, since the marketer has a reply FROM the email address confirming subscription, and the subscriber doesn't have to do ANYTHING if its a bogus subscription attempt. In "spammer-speak" this is known as "double opt-in", which is misleading, since you are only subscribing once, you are simply verifying that it was you who subscribed.
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Where are we going? And what's with the hand basket? | |
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