Many people have different definitions of spam. Since spammers seem to be
the Internet manifestation (or infestation) of telemarketing it might be
instructive to see how the U.S. Government defines telemarketers:
From http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/6106.html
U.S. Code TITLE 15 > CHAPTER 87 > Sec. 6106.
"The term ''telemarketing'' means a plan, program, or campaign which is
conducted to induce purchases of goods or services by use of one or more
telephones and which involves more than one interstate telephone call.
The term does not include the solicitation of sales through the mailing of a
catalog which -
(A) contains a written description, or illustration of the goods or
services offered for sale,
(B) includes the business address of the seller,
(C) includes multiple pages of written material or illustrations,
and
(D) has been issued not less frequently than once a year,
where the person making the solicitation does not solicit customers
by telephone
but only receives calls initiated by customers in response to the
catalog and during
those calls takes orders only without further solicitation."
The FTC has recently issued new rules which, among other things, will
require telemarketers to transmit a valid Caller ID.
They are also setting up a national Do Not Call List. (A national email Do
Not Spam List would be a bonanza for spammers.)
I would like to add:
1. If the email return address is phony, it's spam.
2. If the email comes from a domain where the email address for the
Administrative Contact person is phony, it's spam.
And, finally, it's been suggested that some ISPs and free emailing services
benefit financially from spammers (much as the telephone companies benefit
enormously from providing service to telemarketers), so I still want email
stored on Sender's server and not mine.
Jed Margolin
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