Microsoft Battling To Shape Spam Legislation
from the which-side-are-they-on? dept
Back when Microsoft announced that they were suing 15 spammers (even if they went after some people incorrectly) there were a number of articles about how Microsoft was fighting on both sides of the spam battle. They were suing spammers on one side – making for a huge publicity kick – but at the same time they were fighting (very hard) against various anti-spam legislation. The Washington Post is chronicling a few of Microsoft’s lobbying efforts to stop anti-spam legislation from getting passed. Microsoft’s defense appears to be their belief that spammers will misuse any “do-not-spam list” as the basis for more spam. They might have a very good point. While the article shrugs this idea off, it is likely that any such spam list will be misused by spammers – and could lead to even worse spam problems. While it may sound like a good idea to pass anti-spam legislation, if it’s going to make the problem worse it makes sense to oppose it – even if the soundbites (“Microsoft blocks anti-spam legislation”) sound bad.
Comments on “Microsoft Battling To Shape Spam Legislation”
Microsoft is right
I never click on any link that says “reply with the word unsubscribe in the subject to stop receiving email” as I know perfectly well that it confirms to the spammer that the email address is valid and therefore far more valuable. Legislation needs to make spam “opt-in” rather than “opt-out”.
Phillip.