Spammer, Anti-Spammer Involved In Lawsuit Will Hold Public Debate

Surprises

from the surprising dept

Julian Haight, the founder of anti-spam service SpamCop, and Scott Richter, the founder of spamming service OptInRealBig, are currently in the middle of a fairly nasty legal battle over whether or not SpamCop can block OptIn’s spam. Still, the two have agreed to appear together in public and debate the topic. Both of their lawyers say that the debate will avoid the issue of the lawsuit, but as the article points out, that seems unlikely. The thing is, in listening to what both sides have said over the years, you already know what they’re going to say in this debate – and they’re talking at cross purposes. The spammers focus on their right to make money, while everyone else talks about their right to be left alone. The problem with the spammers’ position is that they don’t have the right to make money. They have the right to try to make money, but if it involves pissing everyone off, and everyone decides to create and use filters to make email bearable again – then that’s their right too.