Sunday, October 16, 2005
FBI Raids Spammer
Slashdot posted that the FBI raided the home of a spam king and seized equipment. It appears the warrant is based on the CAN-SPAM act. Maybe it isn't as useless as it seemed. But Ralsky's lawyer claims he complied with laws and they have never been interpreted by any courts. A good ruling here could really give CAN-SPAM some backbone. It will never stop spam, but at least it restricts what spammers can do legally.
If you read the Slashdot comments you will see why spam is such a big problem. About half the comments are supportive of this. But the other half is for any number of reasons not against spammers. Some think that think the FBI is wasting its time going after just one spammer. Others think that they shouldn't be going after spammers at all.
Then there are those who whine that it is the buyer's fault for supporting the spammers. That is true, but we know that isn't going to stop. The return on spam is already very low, but since sending spam is so cheap even a few sales can make a profit. Blaming the buyers is not going to solve anything. I wish they would be smart enough not to, but it isn't their fault they are stupid.
Some even think there is nothing wrong with spam. One said he doesn't get much spam at all but admitted he uses two spam filters. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean you aren't getting it. It is a waste of bandwidth and a waste of time for those who don't have good spam filters.
If half the audience of Slashdot thinks spam is not a real problem, how is it ever going to be solved? These are the more technology literate people that should be able to see the problem.
If you read the Slashdot comments you will see why spam is such a big problem. About half the comments are supportive of this. But the other half is for any number of reasons not against spammers. Some think that think the FBI is wasting its time going after just one spammer. Others think that they shouldn't be going after spammers at all.
Then there are those who whine that it is the buyer's fault for supporting the spammers. That is true, but we know that isn't going to stop. The return on spam is already very low, but since sending spam is so cheap even a few sales can make a profit. Blaming the buyers is not going to solve anything. I wish they would be smart enough not to, but it isn't their fault they are stupid.
Some even think there is nothing wrong with spam. One said he doesn't get much spam at all but admitted he uses two spam filters. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean you aren't getting it. It is a waste of bandwidth and a waste of time for those who don't have good spam filters.
If half the audience of Slashdot thinks spam is not a real problem, how is it ever going to be solved? These are the more technology literate people that should be able to see the problem.
