On Tue, Jan 17, 2006 at 12:15:18PM +0200,
Gadi Evron <ge(_at_)linuxbox(_dot_)org> wrote
a message of 34 lines which said:
Accepting them?
For the record, I never said that we should accept murder or rape or
spam. The fact that I subscribed to this mailing list clearly shows
that I do want to fight spam.
How do we explain to the END USER why there is still spam?
Your explanations are good. I myself often use the comparison with
burglary. We cannot "solve" burglary. We can use techniques to "bring
it down to manageable levels" (I lock my door, like many people). We
can prosecute. We can look for social solutions to the social problem
of burglary (and, as it is the case with spam, this will trigger a
huge controversy, because it is a political problem). But we cannot
solve it like we solve a math problem.
Are you employing anti spam solutions? ... -- How can a user
distinguish good from bad?
If this is directed to the end user, we should indeed be
careful. Anti-spam "solutions", today, are very close from what was
available in the Wild West at the end of the 19th century: a lot of
"snake oil" dealers and very few actual doctors. Today, we can say to
end users to trust their doctor if they are sick. We cannot say them
to trust their anti-spam vendor. Experts know very well which
techniques work and which do not (and they use it to protect their own
mailboxes). But the end user do not know who is an expert and who is
not.
2. Spam is *ALSO* a social problem, and therefore needs to be dealt
with at a social level as well. Are you writing your congressman to
ask for new and improved anti spam legislation?
Yes, but we need to define "improved" and this is where the politics
begin. What is an "improved" policy against burglary? Cut the hands of
burglars like in Saudi Arabia? Or fight unemployment and lack of legal
opportunities? In the same way, what is an "improved" policy against
spammers? Life sentences for managers of zombified PC? Strong
provisions for the protection of personal data and damned the
corporations which disagree? Replace opt-out laws by opt-in laws?
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