Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core 8GB kit $232 / 4GB kit $116 / 2GB kit $72. New Macbook 2GB DDR3-$65. HARD DRIVES available -- Free shipping / LIfetime warranty.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

Mac Musings

Why We Need Anti-Spam Legislation

Dan Knight - 2003.01.02 - Tip Jar

James Maguire writes, "...passing anti-spam legislation, while perhaps well intended, is like passing a law against rain." Or against speeding, smoking pot, or murder.

Maguire makes some good points in Fighting Spam: Legislation Won't Work, but his easy dismissal of anti-spam legislation is simply shortsighted.

One reason that spamming is so prevalent today is that it's completely legal in most jurisdictions. If spam were actually illegal, maybe 5%, 10%, or 20% of it would no longer be sent. Some people do obey laws - like the vast majority of smokers in California who no longer smoke in stores, offices, restaurants, and bars.

Passing laws against unsolicited commercial email may not stop all spam, but it's a step we need to take so we can begin to reduce the level of spam. Here are some ideas that legislators should consider.

Return Address

First, we should have a law that requires all email to have legitimate from: and reply-to: addresses. Yours, mine, and the spammers. Using IP addresses within email headers and connection logs from ISPs, it should be possible to easily find and prosecute those who deliberately use false email addresses.

Second, we should require that all commercial email also include the name, street address, phone, and fax numbers of the company sending them. If the sender has a toll-free phone number, the law should require that this be included as well.

Recipients of such spam should be allowed to sue at $10 per incident through an automated online system managed by the government.

Identification

Another helpful suggestion is that all spam be required to include ADV: (or something similar) at the beginning of the subject. This will help us identify unsolicited commercial email when it reaches our mailboxes.

Again, IP information and ISP connection logs will help track down those who send spam without the legally required prefix in the subject.

Remove Me

Every unsolicited piece of email sent out should further include instructions for being removed from the mailing list. This should include an automated unsubscribe by email option, an email contact to use should that fail, and a way to contact the company by phone, fax, or postal mail to request removal.

Stay Away

In the physical world, we can put up No Soliciting and No Trespassing signs. There is no equivalent on the Internet. Every nation should create some sort of national opt-out list - just like the phone company is already required to keep. This would be a one-way system so that nobody could read the database to extract a mailing list.

Spammers would be required to scrub their mailing lists against this database through some automated process - and this service should cost them based on the number of addresses checked. Spammers should also be required to check all addresses against the national opt-out lists every time they use the mailing list.

We've finally found a way to stop spam from being free, especially in conjunction with $10 per email received potential fines for failure to follow any of these laws.

Around the World

In the end, nations should set up reciprocal agreements for prosecuting spammers across international borders. It would soon become evident which nations oppose spam and which rogues harbor spammers. These would top the blacklists at most email providers.

What About Free Speech?

Individuals will still have the right to share their thoughts in a private email or post them on their personal Web space. Businesses will still have the right to contact their customers. Charities will still have the right to solicit donations from their supporters.

Fanatics are able to print and distribute leaflets, but they are also responsible for cleaning up their litter and obligated to obey No Soliciting warnings. We should ask no less of spammers.

What these laws would reduce or stop is the no cost abuse of the Internet and waste of our time. Unlike rain, sending spam is a human behavior which can and should be covered by law.

Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986, sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Mac Musings

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.


Have a question?
Ask an expert!

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.