Hide Techdirt is off for the holiday! We'll be back with our regular posts this weekend.

Return To Sender

from the should-we-make-spam-illegal? dept

The Guardian is commenting on Australia’s recent decision to make spam illegal, along with moves in both Europe and the US to put in place some sort of anti-spam laws, and concludes that banning spam is the way to go. They admit that some spammers will move offshore and continue their incessant spamming – but believe that it will be a deterrent to a good number of spammers. I’m not sure. I’m as anti-spam as they come, but I doubt anti-spam laws will do very much. Most spammers will figure out ways around the laws. At the same time, I’m worried about the misuse of anti-spam laws. How long until someone just tries to send someone else a perfectly legitimate email and gets sued for breaking anti-spam laws?


Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “Return To Sender”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
3 Comments
aumouse says:

spam laws in au - not yet

without having read the guardian article [it wouldnt load 🙁 ] the federal au minister has only promised to introduce anti spam laws into parliament before the end of the year. knowing what a complete luddite / moron he is, im not holding my breath. he tried to ban not only phone sex lines but www pr0n. both just moved overseas. he tried to ban local www gambling. it moved to overseas hosting…. the au taxpayer subsidises federal politicians about $21 million just for stamps & envelopes for political spam. the current prime ministers idea to prevent terrorism is to send us fridge magnets ! i think there is huge lack of darwinism in our country…..

Anonymous Coward says:

If it didn't work, Spam would go away

If spam didn’t work – didn’t get some sort of sales rate – it would die on it’s own. Companies aren’t going to pay for advertising that doesn’t deliver sales (eventually), and if EVERYONE ignored spam, it would die on its own.

Okay, since I and everyone else I know hate spam, and everyone on this site seems the same way, WHO is buying this (#$% advertised through spam? THEY are the ones who are keeping it in business.

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get all our posts in your inbox with the Techdirt Daily Newsletter!

We don’t spam. Read our privacy policy for more info.

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...