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Bill of Rights

The 1st Amendment guarantees freedom of speech -- that there can be no legal sanctions imposed, regardless of content, for the utterance any public expression. That amendment does not, however, require that society at large, nor of any element of that society, bear the cost of the delivery of such expression.

I.e., you can anything you damned well please, but if you want to be heard beyond the range of your own shouting, _you_ are responsible for paying whatever media you think appropriate to deliver your message. Radio and TV stations aren't obligated to, gratis, air your rantings; newspapers and magazines aren't obligated to, gratis, publish them.

Spammers certainly have the right to advertise their wares -- that is indeed guaranteed by the first amendment. They do _not_, however have the right to use bandwidth _I_ pay for, and computers _I_ paid for, to deliver their messages without first getting my permission and paying such fees as I may charge for the use of my resources.

Spamming is not a violation of the first amendment, but it is theft of services, and should be treated as such. And companies that engage in spamming, or employ other agencies to do so on their behalf, are either guilty of that crime, or are complicit in it.

Email spam and "postal spam" (junk mail) are fundamentally different in that regard. Postal spammers pay the post office to deliver their trash, and it's certainly their prerogative to do so. Similarly "broadcast spam" (radio and TV ads) are paid for directly by the spammers, as well as indirectly (by sitting through the ad) by users of "free" broadcast services. Email spam is alone in that it imposes its costs on unwilling, unconsenting, recipients.

Posted by: Chris Moller   Posted on: 04/12/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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