Spam Lawsuit Dismissed

from the even-opting-out-isn't-good-enough dept

A high profile "test case" against Sprint for spamming a guy in Salt Lake City (in violation of Utah's new anti-spam law) was dismissed today, as the judge ruled that Sprint had a "pre-existing relationship" with the guy who filed the lawsuit. The focus of the article seems to make a big deal out of how this is somehow a "blow" to the spam law - but it's not. The ruling has nothing to do with the law itself, but how it was applied in this case. However, what I find more upsetting is that this guy clearly "opted-out" of receiving messages - and yet he still received the spam a few days later. Basically, what the judge is saying is that even opting-out of receiving spam isn't enough to "void the pre-existing relationship". So, the question is should there be a time limit on how quickly a company needs to remove you from a database? Some may argue that there should be some leeway, but if you're going to put a system in place to send out mass mailings, I don't see why you shouldn't also set up an automated system to immediately remove those who want off the list.
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  • identicon
    Michael, 14 Mar 2003 @ 1:58pm

    SPAM Killers

    Honestly the World's ethical hackers need to unite to create super viruses that will disable large organizations that continue to SPAM. Once found guilty by members of the internet community of SPAMMING the guilty party should have their site hacked and have malicous viruses destroy their systems. But no the little people always have to pay for the greed of Corporate America!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Bish, 14 Mar 2003 @ 8:17pm

      Re: SPAM Killers

      Michael,
      Would that be similar to the Napster Death Sentence imposed on Doctor Dre and Metallica?
      the NDS isn't working: people are still buying way too many albums, ignoring Lars' flapping gums and, apparently, eagerly accepting the title of Potential Thief.
      Yeah, I'd be all for a supervirus inflicted on evil spammers, IFF, like the death penalty, we can be sure it's only used vs spammers; hacker kids don't have a good reputation for avoiding power plays and getting all petty (ISS's 0-day announcements are always fun).

      Either way, it'd be the first nod toward the Internet Governing the Planet, and not the other way around.

      link to this | view in chronology ]


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