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"Laws are what keep us from killing each other..."
"... and etiquette is what keeps us from driving each other crazy." -- Judith 'Miss Manners' Martin

There's some wisdom to all of these points. I am firmly convinced that most "corporate productivity impact" and "corporate damage cost" numbers are more or less cooked (anyone here who's honest knows tht the web itself is a much greater productivity hog than spam). On the other hand, I do realize a substantial *personal* cost from spam, in terms of time devoted to managing it (even with a good filter, you have to monitor for false-positives) and risk of data loss (those darn false-positives again).

Again, I propose extending the penalties to the people who actually buy the services of spammers. That could take a significant bite out of the volume.

Ultimately, for most people, I think spam is an etiquette-crime: It's somewhere (a long way) north of public mobile-phone conversation, and somewhere (not very far) south of sleeping with your daughter's boyfriend.

Another interesting thing about spam: It's much more purely economic than junk mail is. Junk mail has an environmental impact, and a lot of people pay lip-service to that -- but no one ever thought about it like we do about spam. Spam has a visceral, personal aspect to it; I think most people think of it much more like they do of unsolicited phone calls.
Posted by: escoles@...   Posted on: 04/15/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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Get it straight, . . .  James Dean_z | 04/14/04
Awwww  Bill4 | 04/14/04
Just Delete it? Post me your email  voiceofreason_z | 04/14/04
Try a Bayesian filter or challenge-response  CobraA1 | 04/14/04
True we only get about 100 a day now  Hanover Phist | 04/15/04
we need laws for  V Sanders | 04/15/04
anyone heard of a snail mail filter  V Sanders | 04/15/04
and yes snail mail cost me money  V Sanders | 04/15/04
Snail mail filter  Update victim | 04/15/04
I hate spam too  V Sanders | 04/16/04
just like spam I have throughen out the good with the bad  Hanover Phist | 04/15/04
Big difference...  BitTwiddler | 04/15/04
Ridiculous!  DarbyOhara | 04/15/04
I agree, I think the reason our postage keeps going up  V Sanders | 04/16/04
so would paid email  V Sanders | 04/16/04
"Laws are what keep us from killing each other..."  escoles@... | 04/15/04
Spam has an enviromental impact to.  Burnsie001 | 04/15/04
how much  V Sanders | 04/16/04
Good!  BitTwiddler | 04/15/04
Disproportional Punishments  rock06r | 04/15/04
Spam 20 billion theft is gross underestimate.  xris007 | 04/15/04
when I go out of town  V Sanders | 04/16/04
Long, hard, stiff is how they should be penalized  Robert Carnegie | 04/16/04

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