Not Guilty

We receive such a tremendous amount of unsolicited commercial
email (spam) in our In-Box every day, we can certainly understand
why some people become "Anti-Spam" crusaders. Since the majority
is sent with phony return addresses, it is virtually impossible
to track them down. While there are ways to find out where it
originated, it is usually an exercise in futility, as most come
from professional spam houses who own their own servers, and
aren't about to shut themselves down.

Most people simply delete the clutter, or create filters with
their email package to automatically get rid of a lot of it.
There are some however, whose primary mission in life is to get
rid of all the spam on the Internet.

Frustrated by their inability to get rid of most of it, they
might find a valid email address, and like a hawk seeking its
prey, pounce upon the offender. They relentlessly pursue
their intended victim, and file a complaint with every email
address provider they can identify.

Some fanatics seem to take great pleasure in getting someone's
domain blocked, or being shutdown by their ISP or email provider.
But wait - what if the complaint is not valid. We all know how
easy it is to forge someone's valid email address, and many
spammers do just this. If a complaint is filed against that
stolen address, the true owner is being unjustly accused. At the
very least they will have to defend themselves, and worse case
they are shut down. This is wrong.

Others obtain software that parses their email, and automatically
sends a complaint to every provider found. Now, having a spastic
moment, they might do this with a newsletter they subscribe to,
and asked to receive. That means that the provider of every email
address found in the newsletter will receive a complaint. This
includes the authors of articles in the newsletter, all
advertisers who list an email address, as well as the publisher.
This action will cause people who are not guilty of spamming
significant problems. This is unconscionable.

The typical scenario is that someone subscribes to a newsletter
with a free email address, and forwards their email to their
permanent email address. They receive the publication, decide
they don't want it, and try to be removed from the distribution
list. They are told that they are not subscribed under that
address, which is true. Forgetting about the fact that it is
actually being sent to their free account and being forwarded,
their level of frustration increases with every copy received,
and they fire off their complaints.

People who make unfounded complaints, like terrorists, are guilty
of a crime. No, they don't kill anyone, but they could put
legitimate people, who are not spamming, out of business due to
their complaints. They are, in point of fact, depriving someone
of the right to earn a living, and should be legally liable for
any damage they cause.

Don't get me wrong - I am as sick of receiving this garbage in my
mailbox every day as everyone else. I don't like to receive
unsolicited commercial email. I can't stop it however, and I
don't think anyone can. I don't like receiving ads for porn
sites, for legal representation, viagra, cellular phones, printer
cartridges or anything else that winds up uninvited in my email.

I don't have a surefire solution to this problem, but do know
that it is wrong to persecute the innocent on the outside chance
of getting a spammer, who will simply spring up someplace else.

The anti-spam fanatics who pursue tactics like this are more of a
problem than the spammers they are trying to get rid of. While I
can take steps to eliminate the spam I receive, I can't prevent
the fanatics from making false accusations, which could be
detrimental to my reputation and business.

Face it - the number of spams received from misdirected
individuals is miniscule in comparison with those received from
the untouchable pros. Rather than persecuting legitimate people
who are not guilty, why not take some steps to provide a workable
solution.

Spam is theft, Spammers are thieves, and should be treated as
such. They are stealing your available resources, not to mention
your time to sort through it. Legislative solutions have become
mired, and remove lists don't work. Filtering email is only a
partial solution, as much spam is an HTML document that you can't
eliminate on a keyword in the body of the note, and since they
use a different address every time it is sent, it is virtually
impossible to block.

In my judgement, the most effective way to keep unsolicited mail
from getting in your email box, is to enact legislation that
requires the letters "ADV" to precede the subject of the
unsolicited email. That would identify it as an ad, and allow you
the option to easily filter the email to where you wish.

Something must be done, and a reasonable first step would be to
send a copy of this article to your elected representatives, and
demand action on their part.

The least effective way is to make complaints to ISP's found in
an email, as the majority of the time, you won't be getting the
real offenders. You could however, wind up hurting someone who
is not guilty.