AnarchoCyphertopian technologies (wasRE: [extropy-chat] Reccommendations for a mailing list)

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Dirk Bruere <dirk at neopax.com> wrote:
> And nobody has any idea what people and companies
> use spammers?
> Don't they actually include some contact details in
> their spam, or have 
> I missed something?

Much of the time, the contact info is incorrect - or
becomes incorrect by the time one could follow up on
it, having been deluged by the taken.  The spammer has
collected their money (or other info, like credit card
numbers) and run.  (And then there's ones who never
wanted to you to contact them, but just to get
something in your inbox - either to "validate" your
email address so they could sell it to other spammers,
or virus writers who really don't want you knocking on
their door.)

More patient types, like the Nigerian 419 scam
(ironically named for the section of Nigeria's legal
code they were breaking: the authorities were well
aware of the problem, but apparently did not do a good
enough job of cracking down on it) and others who try
to draw high-value targets in, can be caught.  But
just from my own inbox, this does not seem to account
for a large portion of the spam.

> I suggest that such countries be made to take these
> problems seriously.
> Mandatory blocking of net traffic from ISPs within
> nations that fail to 
> implement effective anti-spam laws might be a good
> way to start.

The problem with embargos like that is, the world got
along just fine before the Internet.  Select backwards
countries can continue to get along without it; many
of their lower class literally won't ever know what
they're missing.  Pressure to change does not mount;
they simply mostly do without, while the rich find
ways to get around the embargo.