----- Original Message ----- From: "Einar Stefferud" <Stef@thor.nma.com> To: <ietf@ietf.org> Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 4:16 AM Subject: Re: Why Spam is a problem > Opt out is not a good spam solution, since in most cases, the opt out > email address is generally used to collect good "live" addresses for > use by other spammers. > > So, we have mostly all learned to never reply to an opt out offer. > I have never seen one that worked, and now I never reply to them. > > How could the law detect that opt out FROM addresses do not become a > valuable commodity for other purposes? How deeply do you want to > bring the government into the protocol development and program coding > business? Are you going to station FBI officers in the spammer's > offices? > > To solve the problem, any anti-spam law has to require Opt-IN > procedures, and documentation of the Opt In actions. And even then, > they can fake the opt-in EMail documents. How many times already do > you get spam that claims they have your opt-in records. > > Come to think of it, I expect that the FAX opt out process also is > used to collect good (live) FAX numbers, these days. > > Cheers...\Stef When you go into a business you may see a "No Soliciting" sign. This sign is backed up by law. I've never seen a "Soliciters are welcome here" sign. If MIME protocols had built in extensions that were the equivalant of a "No Soliciting" sign, and were backed up by law, could that work? >