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1.  

   Education

   

   Mikester, Mar 26th, 2004 @ 10:11am

   
   

   The only real long term solution is to make sure the education system (K-12) is embedding 'best practices' of using the internet in our children so that they'll be wise to these marketing schemes. Obviously this doesn't help us in the near term, but there really isn't an efficient way to educate the public at large. The media stories about spammers and scammers certainly don't seem to be doing much

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2.  

   spammers adapt

   

   aNonMooseCowherd, Mar 26th, 2004 @ 10:45am

   
   

   Spammers unfortunately adapt their methods, and if people stop responding to the current types of spam, almost all of which are obviously bogus, the spammers will just make their pitches look more believable, e.g. by pointing to web sites purporting to be testimonials or even government endorsements of their products.

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3.  

   the idiot tax

   

   Kelly, Mar 26th, 2004 @ 12:24pm

   
   

   Ah, but wait - the wise Arnold Kling proposes the following:
   

   
   Perhaps we should think about the issue differently. The problem is that businesses pay spammers to send spam. Presumably, they do this because it is profitable. Presumably, this is because there are woodheads out there who buy goods and services from spammers.
   
   Perhaps instead of trying to attack the problem by going after spammers, what we should be doing is going after the woodheads. It is almost impossible to enforce a law against sending spam. So we should try to pass a law against responding to spam.
   
   What I propose is that any American who makes a purchase based on unsolicited email be fined $10,000 and jailed for 30 days. The law would be enforced by undertaking random audits of companies that are successful at attracting business by using spam. The law would be highly publicized by internet service providers and corporate CIO's, who have a strong interest in reducing the volume of spam. Thus, everyone with an Internet account would be on notice that purchasing from a spammer can get you in trouble.
   
   If we can deter Americans from responding to spam, then spammers will stop routing spam to domains in the U.S. That's my solution.

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4.  

   Re: the idiot tax

   

   thecaptain, Mar 26th, 2004 @ 12:56pm

   
   

   I'd rather go after the companies who pay spammers...always follow the money.
   
   Fine them per spam sent. Hundreds each maybe...payable to recipients.

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