> > Whatever. I guess we don't need federal laws then. > State level laws against theft and murder don't mean that fed laws are unneeded. A fed anti-spam law would be nice (if probably unenforceable). Right now fines range from $50 to $1 million for spamming. Some states don't cover interstate spamming or out of country originators. Definitions of spam differ, no doubt (although not as bad as the definitions amongst users, who keep reporting mailing lists they subscribed to, as well as ebay, paypal, etc.
But, fed laws can be nice. Look at new no-internet tax law. TN thinks this may mean telecom companies will be exempt from ALL state and local taxes, not just sales tax on services and sales tax on goods sold across the internet. Although how ignorant judges can allow them to somehow make a distinction between ordering from an online versus a mail order catalog is unreal. Same with copyright being "different" due to its digital medium (versus tape vs. vinyl, where judges used to be smart enough to say: copyright is copyright, medium is not material to the rights of either party). Same with internet radio -- only by simply insisting it is "different" than "airwaves" are the fees charged being justified (fixed amount per "listener per song", while radio and TV (which used to pay based on station revenue) pay a fixed rate for the industry for the year (the "industry" then prorates this out to the stations, mostly on market size). Note that getting a digital signal via the "air" does not change their rates, nor does the use of wireless internet connection change the fees charged there. Similar debates raged when the printing press allowed mass production of works -- this is simply a matter of scale and should not be the reason for rewriting of the basic rights in the law. We already have laws covering many things: they keep making up NEW laws for these same things that only apply to the internet, which feeds the belief that the medium changes the law. Exceptions to those laws that specifically deal with US mail usage, such as mail fraud, sending porn thru the mail, etc., probably need to be "rethunk" into cohesive laws covering interstate commerce (remember, that sole province of our federal government). Just as we didn't need new laws to cover interstate kidnapping when the automobile (or the airplane or helicopter) were invented. K ps. and for those interested, I personally think those commercially profiting from such copying should be jailed and/or fined out of existence and those "sharing" their large file/music base should pay royalties to the copyright holder, the same as any other "station" broadcasting such content. --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus] To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/
