----- Original Message -----
From: <spf(_at_)unobtainium(_dot_)net>
To: <spf-discuss(_at_)v2(_dot_)listbox(_dot_)com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 3:27 PM
Subject: Re: [spf-discuss] Good Domain List one step closer to reality
(actually two steps)
Note that this could just as easily be a small business owner (I don't
mean to belittle non-profits...it's just that non-profits aren't the
only people trying to make it on a tight budget). The Internet is a
great enabler for small business in troubling economic times. Yes,
requiring that a business (or non-profit, school, library, or whatever
entity) pay for the privilege of sending email will stop some spam.
It will also hurt a lot of small business owners. It will not stop
the people who make millions sending spam.
Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater -- financial barriers
are the wrong way to go. If they are low enough to avoid collateral
damage, they are not effective. If they are high enough to be
effective, they will cause too much collateral damage.
I'm aware of at least one legal newsletter that is having serious problems
with this sort of inappropriate blacklisting/whitelisting/overly-aggerssive
filtering. There's nothing like ticking off a judge by blocking his email to
get legal nastygrams to your filtering company, followed up by restraining
orders if they feel like it.