From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Date: Tue Feb 02 1999 - 19:47:58 MST
Mark D. Fulwiler wrote:
> I find spam to be a nuisance, but like the mass U.S. Snail mailings of
> Publisher's Clearing House, it is free speech. I do not agree that
> distinctions should be made between commercial and noncommercial speech.
> It just takes me a few seconds of the day to put this stuff in my trash
> can and dispose of it. I have a life but I wonder about those people who
> are pushing for a big government solution to this non-problem.
Wonder about this: "Your right to swing your arm ends in front of my nose." You
have the right to speak, yes. I have the right to not be forced to listen to
you, or to have my time wasted by your insistent harassment in trying to force
your speech on me.
My privacy rights exceed your speech rights within a given radius of my body and
ears, given that I am on private property in which I have some say in the
activities there (especially if it is my own). Just because I have a mailbox at
the property line does not mean that every Tom, Dick, and Jerk-wad can stuff it
full of tree killing crap. I have the right to refuse to receive any class of
mail I wish.
The way the USPS regulates this with snail mail is by requiring that all users
of bulk class (2nd class periodicals, 3rd class standard) mail rates MUST submit
CASS certified audits of every mail list they use that certifies that NONE of
the people on the mail list are on the industry standardized refuse list (among
other things). They must do this with EVERY mailing to get these rates. I know
this because this is one of the services that a company I consult with provides
to direct marketers and periodicals publishers.
Since the internet crosses state lines and national borders, the congress,
delegating to the USPS, the Commerce Dept,, what have you...have the right to
regulate (under the Interstate Commerce clause) commercial communications which
cross those borders (i.e. the equivalent of 2nd and 3rd class mail). The
authority is already there to regulate spam, and it is just, constitutional, and
has a decent pedigree of precedent supporting it. The only reason why it isn't
being enforced is that the populace is so used to getting trod on by the
government, business, etc that they no longer understand that they have the
right to be free of this shit. They've been trained through life by the media
and the government that their right to privacy is less than other people's right
to harass you with their opinions or their wares...when its the exact opposite
that is true.
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey ------------------------------------------------------------ mailto:retroman@together.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering ------------------------------------------------------------ How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?
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