Re: Junk mail and rotting web (SPAM)

mark@unicorn.com
Tue, 2 Feb 1999 03:10:16 -0800 (PST)

Michael S. Lorrey [retroman@together.net] wrote:
>Sending email which claims to promote one kind of website when it actually is
>linked to another type is also mail and wire fraud.

The mail and wire fraud laws are very, very good examples of why spamming laws are a really bad idea. Just take a look sometime at the numerous cases where these laws are used for things they were never intended to cover; back when I kept up with the hacking press, it seemed that practically every US hacker caught was charged with wire fraud with its high penalties, even though the crime was never intended to apply to hacking.

>If a spammer can be charged for every one of the thousands or millions
>of spam messages they send, then they will be spending a lot of time in
>prison (probably more than their entire adult life) and paying whopping
>fines.

Oh get real. Late time I checked the average murderer spent about eight years in jail; you want to put spammers in jail for longer than murderers!? Do you have any idea how much these kind of laws are screwing up the US legal system? Next time someone's accused of spamming they'll just come out shooting, because they'll have nothing to lose...

This list is really going downhill.

Mark