[54132] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Spam. Again.. -- and blocking net blocks?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Stephen Sprunk)
Tue Dec 10 17:31:35 2002
From: "Stephen Sprunk" <ssprunk@cisco.com>
To: "Barry Shein" <bzs@world.std.com>,
"hostmaster" <hostmaster@nso.org>
Cc: <nanog@nanog.org>
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 16:30:15 -0600
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
Barry Shein wrote:
> The only solution to spam is to start charging for email (perhaps with
> reasonable included minimums if that calms you down for some large set
> of "you") and thus create an economic incentive for all parties
> involved.
>
> Face it folks, the party is over, the free-for-all was a nice idea but
> it simply did not work. See "The Tragedy of the Commons".
Sure, because charging for postal mail has certainly stopped the deplorable
practice of junk mailing.</sarcasm>
As long as spamming is legal, people will do it, period. You cannot solve
administrative problems with technical solutions. The key is for ISPs to
form a political lobby (with the same power as the DMA) and push for
reasonable laws to protect consumers. Until then, we're all pissing in the
wind.
S
