[CS-FSLUG] Let's Talk About It: Web of Trust

[Don Parris]

On 12/28/05, Ed Hurst <ehurst at asisaid.com> wrote:
> Don Parris wrote:
>
> >>While fighting these types of misbehavior is arguably Quixotic, to
> >>simply drop it makes things only worse. What are the moral grounds for
> >>continuing the fight, for attempting to enlist others in the fight? What
> >>can we as a list together say for or against any part of this issue?
> >
> > This is along similar lines:
> > http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,16559,1674358,00.html
>
> Okay, so we have a lawsuit in which the spammer simply didn't bother to
> contest the claims and paid the man less than they would have a lawyer,
> or the cost of time for an employee to defend it in court. If it happens
> a great deal, they may actually decide the cost is too great and do
> something different. That "something different" might well include
> contracting the spamming out. The sad thing is, for what it cost them to
> send the spam, just one or two customers buying would easily pay for the
> spamming.
>
> Lawsuits are good, and more power to those who can do that. We see some
> government policies are raising the price of spam somewhat. It should
> always be possible to sue successfully in small claims court. Sadly, we
> can't do that here in the US unless we are an ISP. I've already written
> at length about how spamming shifts the cost of advertising almost
> entirely onto the individual recipients. That's immoral; it amounts to
> an indirect theft, an abuse of services for which users pay. Hitting
> spammers in the pocket book is the only legitimate way to hurt them.
>
> The spammer was Media Logistics UK (www.medialogisticsuk.net). Now, what
> about the company that sold services to the spammer -- Fasthosts
> Internet Limited (fasthosts.co.uk)? Are they not somewhat responsible?
> (BTW, I've written to Fasthosts in my guise as "journalist" for Ofb.biz,
> but it may not be proper to post here their response, should I get one.)
>
> --

Ed, I would highly recommend e-mailing several other ISPs as a
journalist with OFB to see how they respond.  Then write up an article
about the responses.  Publish it on OFB and submit the link for your
article to LXer using the "Publish it Here" link.  If you have
questions about submitting your link, drop me a line.  Take your time,
and do some good homework.  You might also check with E-Mail Battles
for more info on this.  A little homework will make your article pay
off.  My latest on Microsoft's XML stand made the front page of
Digg.com yesterday.  Anyway, think about it.

Don
--
DC Parris GNU Evangelist
http://matheteuo.org/
gnumathetes at gmail.com
"Hey man, whatever pickles your list!"