On Fri, 16 Aug 2002 01:16:08 -0700 Einar Stefferud
<Stef(_at_)thor(_dot_)nma(_dot_)com> wrote:
Opt out is not a good spam solution, since in most cases, the opt out
email address is generally used to collect good "live" addresses for
use by other spammers.
So, we have mostly all learned to never reply to an opt out offer.
I have never seen one that worked, and now I never reply to them.
nor do i.
the theoretical possibility of effective opt-out comes from having the list
managed by a neutral third party with strict controls; bulk emailers would
submit lists to be cleaned. a prototype of a system that might have been
effective was built by Rodney Joffe several years ago.
To solve the problem, any anti-spam law has to require Opt-IN
procedures, and documentation of the Opt In actions. And even then,
they can fake the opt-in EMail documents. How many times already do
you get spam that claims they have your opt-in records.
opt-in is certainly always preferable.
richard
--
Richard Welty
rwelty(_at_)averillpark(_dot_)net
Averill Park Networking 518-573-7592
Unix, Linux, IP Network Engineering, Security