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.
well, it would make them care about civil and criminal penalties, if
not about the social issues.
(but you're dead on about spammers not caring - the ones I've talked to
seem sincerely convinced that they have a right to steal from others, and
the only justification they need is that they can make money from doing so.)
at least in the US we're extremely unlikely to get legislation that
imposes substantial civil and criminal penalties, because the DMA wants
to make spam legitimate, and they have more money (thus influence) than
geeks do.
The root problem is social.
depending on how you look at it, the problem is social, economic, political,
technical, or some combination of these. I don't find such generalizations
very useful.
Keith