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December 30, 2003
If Only
One of the country's biggest spammers is allegedly turning over a new leaf.
He stopped sending e-mail offers for everything from debt repayment schemes to time-share vacations even before President Bush, on Dec. 16, signed the new Can Spam Act, a law meant to crack down on marketers like Mr. Ralsky.
He plans to resume in January, he said, after he overcomes some computer problems, and only after he changes his practices to include in his messages a return address and other information required by the law, the title of which stands for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing.
*cough*Bullshit*cough* Like the guy who recently was the principal defendant in the civil suit filed by the NY A.G., spammers aren't going to suddenly start following the law.
Still, in the week after the suit was filed, Mr. Richter's company, OptInRealBig.com, was actively sending e-mail messages promoting dozens of products, including laser guns, breast enlargement pills and Christian dating services.
Thanks to this asshole, my spam e-mail reached a new high this week....172 in a 24 hr. period. If I would just enlarge my penis & breasts, I could meet Christian singles that had seen me at church. (They must have very long memories) And we could talk about paying off my mortgage and credit cards.
And I suspect the new law, even with its potential penalty of up to $6M in fines and up to 5 yrs prison time, is going to do little to stop the flood....about as effective as spitting in the ocean. What I would like to see is anti-spam software where you could send a little packet that would wipe the spammers' hard drive....and deliver an electric shock to anyone who touched that computer. Not anything deadly, the equivalent of a cattle prod should do it. I'd call it the Skinner Spam Solution.
Hmmm....I wonder if I could write that in QBasic.
Posted by Rita at December 30, 2003 07:02 AM
Comments
I vote for your spam solution! Can I get that code too? Hehe.
Posted by: suzi at December 30, 2003 11:23 PM