Economics of "Wanted" and "Unwanted" Messages

[Tim May]

On Sunday, May 18, 2003, at 04:45  PM, Steve Furlong wrote:

> On Thursday 15 May 2003 03:21, Tim May wrote:
> (Comparison between celebrity stalking and spamming)
>> ...Their are three main
>> approaches for dealing with the problem of unwanted attention towards
>> celebrities:
>>
>> 1. Pass laws...
>>
>> 2. ...screen ...
>>
>> 3. Reclusiveness.
>
> 4. Make stalking, or spamming, physically unrewarding. Celebrities can
> have their bodyguards beat up intruders. In the case of spammers, the
> more talented network hackers might be able to back-trace the messages
> and eventually get a physical address. A usenet group or overseas web
> site could carry lists of these addresses. Ordinary citizens living
> near the spammers could then convey the complaints of the community to
> the spammer, with ball-peen hammer or shotgun. If the citizens
> exercized some caution and didn't repeat themselves, the cops wouldn't
> have much to go on. Heck, the cops probably wouldn't even investigate
> very hard; they receive spam, too. The only drawback I see to this plan
> is the problem of false accusations.
>

In a timing irony, today's WSJ has a front-page article on 
"anti-spammer vigilantes" who go after spammers. I didn't have time to 
read the article, just glance at the first couple of paragraphs.

--Tim May



"A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a
simple system that worked ...A complex system designed from scratch 
never  works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to 
start over,  beginning with a working simple system." -- Grady Booch