posted on February 26, 2001 06:35:19 PM
unfortunately, popula, like other potential (or actual) spamemrs, ignores a couple things...
1) spam costs the end recipient (the user and the physical MACHINE of the ISP), whereas the u.s. postal service junk mail actually *subsidizes* the cost of sending mail.
according to a non-partisan article in europe, the costs of spam last year were 9 million dollars! (6 million pounds).
2) if popula *were* to start sending spam, despite calls that it's "not illegal!", they could get booted off their ISP. why?
they are hosted by C&W. if you go to C&W's acceptable use policies page, located here:
http://www.cw.com/th_05.asp?ID=cl_aup_en
you'll see that popula can get booted off if they:
"send Unsolicited E-mail to more than twenty-five (25)e-mail users, if such Unsolicited E-mail could reasonably be expected to provoke complaints. Except as otherwise defined under applicable law, "Unsolicited E-mail" does not include any message addressed to an individual (i) with whom the sender has a preexisting and ongoing business or personal relationship, (ii) from a non-commercial organization or entity of which the individual is a pre-existing member or (iii) a posting to a List that does not otherwise violate this Policy;"
3) some states are working on bills that amend the junk fax bill to include spam email. imagine a company saying "well, we're not faxing you information on weight loss - we're *legitimate!*"...same thing. fax costs money, so does junk email.
4) many people and admins subscribe to lists which block access to repeat spammers. meaning their subscribers can't have access to the spammers...and their subscribers LOVE it.
for more information on spam - who's doing it, who's not, what it is, etc. - check out the usenet newsgroup news.admin.net-abuse.email or the site www.cauce.org or (for court cases) http://www.whew.com/Spammers/legal/ or...there's a ton more. but that's a start.
for more information on combatting it, check out www.samspade.org
