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List:       dmca-discuss
Subject:    Re: [DMCA_Discuss] US antispam bill is death to anonymity
From:       ilya () theilya ! com
Date:       2003-11-23 1:10:09
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Godness, the spam problem is one of the simplest ones to resolve
technically: all we have to do is switch over to DJB's electonic
mail protocol (http://cr.yp.to/im2000.html). This would achieve
same result - making spam just like snail-mail-junk, but in a natural
way.
And, for a reference, with my email all over internet (bunch of publically
archived mailing lists, various open-source projects I dealt with, etc.)
I'm getting a *lot* of spam. Looking in unfiltered mailbox, ~300 messages
on a quiet day.

	Ilya.

On Sat, Nov 22, 2003 at 01:34:29PM -0800, Jon O. wrote:
> ----- Forwarded message from John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com> -----
> 
> This bill makes it a crime to use any false or misleading information
> in a domain name or email account application, and then send an email.
> That would make a large fraction of hotmail users instant criminals.
> 
> It also makes it a crime to remove or alter information in message
> headers in ways that would make it harder for a police officer
> to determine who had sent the email.  Anonymizers will be illegal
> as soon as this bill becomes law.
> 
> There are MANY, MANY other things wrong with it -- including the fact
> that most of its provisions apply to *ALL* commercial email, not just
> BULK commercial email -- and that it takes zero account of the First
> Amendment, attempting to list what topics someone can validly send
> messages about, while outlawing all other topics that relate to
> commercial transactions.
> 
> If it passes, I think I can make a criminal out of just about any
> company.  Companies are liable for spam that helps them, even if they
> had no part in sending it.
> 
> Read the bill yourself:
>   http://news.com.com/pdf/ne/2003/FINALSPAM.pdf
> And weep.  And then call your Congressman.
> 
> Everyone's common sense goes out the window when the topic is spam.
> They're willing to sacrifice whatever principles they have.  And
> you already know how few principles Congress had left.  
> 
> 	John
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-1024_3-5110622.html
> 
> Congress Poised for Vote on Anti-Spam Bill
> Declan McCullagh
> Published: November 21, 2003
> 
> Congress has reached an agreement on antispam legislation and could
> vote on it as early as Friday afternoon, a move that would end more
> than six years of failed attempts to enact a federal law restricting
> unsolicited commercial e-mail.
> 
> Negotiators from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives said
> Friday that the legislation was a "historic" accomplishment with
> support from key Democrats and Republicans in both chambers. "For the
> first time during the Internet-era, American consumers will have the
> ability to say no to spam," House Energy and Commerce Committee
> Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., said in a statement. [...]
> 
> If the measure becomes law, certain forms of spam will be officially
> legalized. The final bill says spammers may send as many "commercial
> electronic mail messages" as they like--as long as the messages are
> obviously advertisements with a valid U.S. postal address or P.O. box
> and an unsubscribe link at the bottom. Junk e-mail essentially would
> be treated like junk postal mail, with nonfraudulent e-mail legalized
> until the recipient chooses to unsubscribe. [...]
> 
> One hotly contested dispute has been resolved: The bill would pre-empt
> more restrictive state laws, including one that California enacted in
> September. That law established an opt-in standard and was scheduled
> to take effect on Jan. 1. With final passage of this bill, the core of
> California's law would never take effect. [...]
> 
> - ---
> 
> ----- End forwarded message -----
> _______________________________________________
> 
> 
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