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Diverging Estimates Of The Costs Of Spam
from the does-it-really-matter? dept
Because it can't be a problem unless it has a dollar amount attached to it, it seems like everyone is coming out with reports these days telling us just how much spam "costs". Of course, the problem is that none of these reports agree and some claim that there's very little cost to spam at all. However, the sheer number of examples of how spam is costly (from lost time/productivity to the cost of lost or blocked legitimate emails to the cost of network providers) suggests that those who claim there is little to no cost are delusional.
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Bacterial sex
As you are reading this, millions of gram-negative bacteria on your skin are having sex. Yes, the "F+" males are squirting their plasmid DNA into "F-" females through long thin tubes called pili.
The bacteria on your body outnumber your body cells ten to one, yet you survive and even depend on bacteria. So it is with spam -- perhaps they will exchange their genes with computer viruses, worms, and the other microbes of the software universe, to someday create beneficial bacteria.
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Save the Endangered Spam
In our natural evolutionary adaptation as cavemen, our bodies were once a black fog of fleas, our hair a white blizzard of lice, our intenstines a spaghetti bowl of worms, our skin home to more bacteria than stars in the universe. Cavemen opened holes in their skull because they occasionally found worms living in there too. Some of our autoimmune disorders are thought to come from the excessive hygiene of modern life -- the immune system keeps itself busy by attacking the body's own tissues.
We have created the next dimension of life, when the petri dish of the internet is a universe of elementary particles called Viagra, MAKE-MONEY-FAST, and HOT-TEEN-BABES. Galaxies of popup windows are forming the first star systems, and the dark energy of spam filters is slowly causing the universe to die.
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costs...
the reports assigning costs are MISSING the point.
Whether the cost is a penny a day or 10 bucks a day because of spam DOES NOT MATTER. This is a cost that is put upon me without my consent and I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY IT.
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cost of spam
Cost is not the point when it comes to spam-- that appears to be an american idea. The real issue is more like what might be called 'emotional expenditure'... or what the lawyers might term 'mental anguish'. Slightly off topic... Most of mine is made up of outrage. Every time I get a piece of email from someone I don't know, with an attachment that can only be something bad, I feel like someone has taken a dump in my inbox. The outrageous part is, I never did a thing to them, whoever they are.
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