on 8/15/2002 9:03 AM Keith Moore wrote:
That's not to say that legislation could not be a useful part of a
solution, just that I don't think that legislation by itself would
significantly reduce the volume of email spam.
Of course it wouldn't. Neither would anything else. The key point here is
that the root problem is a social issue. Spammers just don't CARE that
there are costs incurred by recipients, and that property rights are being
violated. Civil and criminal penalties are there to MAKE violators care
about these issues.
Once it becomes a matter of property rights, we can develop all kinds of
technology to support it. We can erect virtual "no trespassing" signs in
the protocol if necessary to preserve our rights, for example, with the
technical work being used to reinforce the legal basis.
The root problem is social.
--
Eric A. Hall http://www.ehsco.com/
Internet Core Protocols http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/coreprot/