Internet Is Losing Ground in Battle Against Spam

NY Times ^ | April 22, 2003 | SAUL HANSELL

[Oztrich Boy]

100 pieces a day is a bit restrictive. Once a month I do a mailing of about 120 for a community newsletter and monthly meeting.

It's like "one gun a month": it sounds reasonable but some months you want more.

I'm the same position as you. 200 or so every two months notifiying our meetings. Plus I forward on announcments from the local astronomy and geology groups two or three times a month.

If the proposal is for an average 100 a day limit it's more reasonable

[Oztrich Boy]

There is no point in trying to enact laws to stop these people. We need to hunt them down and kill them.

We could have the UN spam inspectors instead. No. Bad plan. Plan A is better.

[supercat]

One point I seldom see addressed: companies that are actually trying to sell spam recipients a product or service gain nothing by targetting their spam at those people who specifically do not want to receive it.

The real villains are (1) companies that specialize in selling spamming software, and (2) companies that claim to provide "referral services" or advertising.

Typical scenario:

1. Business owner wants to promote widgets. In some widget-related venue (on-line or off-line) he sees an ad for a company which offers to put him in contact with thousands of people specifically looking for widgets.

2. Business owner contacts this company, receives all sorts of assurances that this company does not engage in spamming, but only communicates with people who have specifically asked to be updated about widgets.
3. Business agrees to spend $0.001 per impression (remember these are supposed to be quality impressions).
4. Company spams 10,000,000 email addresses and bills the original business for $10,000. Note that the spammer doesn't care whether anyone actually wants the email or acts upon it. All the spammer cares about is being able to claim it was delivered.

[BearCub]

So we have a spam/porn operator in Florida that we could go after, but that's about it. Taiwan wouldn't be subject to US law, and CDW has a loophole. And, of course, these "businesses" are probably just hosting companies; whomever pays them for their services is probably hidden behind a maze of NDAs and contracts and front companies intended to obscure their ownership.

Soooo... tell me again how we're gonna do this?

Obviously the Taiwanese companies are out of reach. 90%+ of the spam I get is for people advertising weight loss crap or penis enlargement systems and similar crap. Ignore the headers - they are likely useless. Follow the money. Eventually they'll HAVE to tell you who/where to pay for their sh!t. In the worst case you could actually buy something from them with a disposable credit card number (like Citibank issues). Then you know.

There are plenty of people who would sue these guys for sport if there were statutory damages that made it worth it. I'd be first in line.