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Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Dec 3rd 2003 7:13am





Should Companies Be Sued For Allowing Pornographic Spam?

from the can-only-do-so-much dept

Here come the lawyers. This topic has been discussed before, but as the spam problem gets worse, more lawyers are sensing a chance to make a little extra money, so it's coming up again. Lawyers are now looking to sue companies that allow pornographic spam to reach employee in-boxes saying that it creates an unsafe working environment. Of course, companies already know what a pain spam is to their employees, and they would love to stop it. The problem is that spam is very difficult to stop effectively, and many spam-stopping solutions create additional problems as well (whether its additional maintenance costs or lost legitimate emails). Blaming the spam on the companies that don't use filters seems a bit misplaced. The people who should be blamed are the spammers themselves. Besides, in most cases, the spam is due to someone letting their email address become public. If these lawsuits are valid, then it actually will encourage people to be fast and loose with their email address to get as much porn spam as possible - just to sue their employers.

3 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

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    Chris, Dec 3rd, 2003 @ 8:11am

    It's not about right and wrong, or blame. It's about enriching the bank accoounts of the lawyers. The best way to do that is to sue the companies that have money.

    I'm surprised it took this long.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

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    Frank, Dec 3rd, 2003 @ 8:41am

    On one hand this seems like a slippery slope (how far are we from "this salesman I don't know called me through my work phone, my employer should not let people I don't know harass me like that, it's just like spam!"). But then again, with more and more companies assuming editorial review over what web sites employees can view, and what they can write in e-mails, and whether they can use instant messenging (and yes, whether they can play games), a sort of "well, if my boss can control everything, then control the spam, or it's the boss's fault!" response was inevitable.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    No Subject Given

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    Anonymous Coward, Dec 3rd, 2003 @ 1:27pm

    If these lawsuits are valid, then it actually will encourage people to be fast and loose with their email address to get as much porn spam as possible - just to sue their employers. that's the dumbest thing I've heard in a while.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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