Declan McCullagh wrote: > > ----- Forwarded message from Declan McCullagh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----- > > From: Declan McCullagh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: FC: Anti-spam bill goes much further, restricts sex-related email > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 10:03:28 -0400 > X-URL: http://www.mccullagh.org/ > X-URL: Politech is at http://www.politechbot.com/ > User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.2i > > Hey, check out the mccullagh.org nude photo section at: > http://www.mccullagh.org/image/1/bottom.html > > -Declan > > --- > > Long Reach of Sex Spam Bill > By Declan McCullagh ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > 3:13 p.m. May 24, 2001 PDT > > WASHINGTON -- Spam touting preternaturally nubile lasses and dubious > penile enhancement techniques is, without question, clogging inboxes, > vexing companies and alarming parents. > > So nobody was surprised when the House Judiciary Committee > overwhelmingly approved a bill on Wednesday that backers say will > shield America's inboxes from the tacky carnality of spambots. > > Nobody, that is, except legitimate businesses that suddenly realized > sending even legitimate sex-related e-mail might soon be a federal > crime. > And while this undoubtedly surprises the liberals who believed government could do some good regulating commerce on the net (for a liberal never saw a business he didn't want drowned in red tape, in the name of the public good), it surprises the libertarians not at all. I have said it before, and I shall say it again:No New Laws! Simple enforcement of *existing* anti-fraud statutes will put 99% of all spammers out of business. The only reason people want new laws is that they wish to extend government control over the internet. 'Stop the spam' is the Internet equivalent of 'For the sake of the children' -- it's a magic code phrase that causes otherwise rational, suspiscious minds to shut down and embrace whatever idiocy is being offered.
