CDR: RE: FW: BLOCK: AT&T signs bulk hosting contract with spammers

[Jim Choate]

On Fri, 3 Nov 2000, Gil Hamilton wrote:

> I have no doubt that spam *does* cost millions of dollars every
> month to handle.  However, describing it as "trespassing", "stealing"
> and so forth is simply an attempt to demonize it with emotionally
> loaded terms.  It's amazing to me that anyone can get away with
> accusing someone else of "stealing" a resource the accuser is giving
> away for free.

There's a problem with this view...

> Hence, the obvious solution is to make it *cost money to send mail*
> (or to use any other network resource).

It already does (TANSTAAFL), what you seem to be missing is WHO is doing
the paying. When the postman drops that mail in my mailbox it costs me
nothing. When they drop it in my email box it causts me cycles, and their
my cycles not the person sending the spam. When they send their probe out
to my mailer to determine it's configuration without permission that is
trespassing. It is the same as if they came onto my property to determine
how I configure my VCR. That the computer is accessible through a public
channel is as irrelevant to the issue as the fact that the street in front
of my house that connects with my driveway is public as well.

Then again, you may not mind people whom you don't know camping out in
your living room and knowing what sorts of video tapes you have and who
you watch them with.

Access <> Ownership

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