[lug] off topic, spam laws

[Peter Hutnick]

On Sunday 10 February 2002 09:23 pm, D. Stimits wrote:
> I am considering trying to get some legislation passed that would make
> it a criminal offense to forge headers during commercial advertisement.

I think that criminalizing theft of service would make more sense.  I was 
posting to this list with forged headers for a while, because I was out of 
town and had to use a different ISPs SMTP server.  I'm afraid that 
"commercial" and "advertisement" would get too blurry, and forging headers is 
often a legitimate thing to do.  You also avoid any first amendment issues.  
(Would this equate to giving a fake name while handing out leaflets on a 
street corner?  Is that protected speech?)

The biggest part of the problem is open relays and people who abuse them.  
This is sort of covered by Rob's post about RBL.  Beyond RBL, it would be 
less attractive to steal service in this way if it was an actual crime with 
actual enforcement.

This wouldn't stop spam, but it would largely change the economics.

Of course a key factor is that people wouldn't send spam if they didn't make 
money doing it.  So to some extent it is "our" fault as consumers for making 
it profitable.

> The Constitition [sic] says one of our most fundamental rights is the right 
> to be
> left alone, I do not believe the issue is as trivial or petty as it sounds.

Could you provide a reference for that?  The closest thing I can think of is 
fourth amendment right "of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, 
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures" which 
protects us from our own government, but certainly not foreign businesses.

(As a side note, there seems to be an apocryphal popular belief in a "right 
to privacy" provision in the Constitution, which is used to buttress 
"abortion rights."  If anyone has a reference, let me know.)

I don't think that the spam problem is trivial or petty, either, but I hardly 
think it violates our Constitutional protections.

-Peter