From: dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 13:23:22 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Spam blacklist project
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.91.960917124148.16319C-100000@mcfeely.bsfs.org>
Message-ID: <ZZgFuD92w165w@bwalk.dm.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Rabid Wombat <wombat@mcfeely.bsfs.org> writes:
> > You haven't answered my question, Lues. If the list of e-mail addresses of
> > people who DON'T want junk e-mail is made available for _free for FTP,
> > together with a tool for spammers to scrub their mailing lists of these
> > addresses, and an easy way for anyone to add his or her address to this
> > list for _free, then how would Slaton _sell this list to anyone?
> >
>
> Easily. What percentage of, er, mass internet advertisers would know that
> this site exists?

Some mass advertizers are pretty bright and have good brains working for
them. Others will be destroyed by the market forces.

>                   I assume it would become a very large list, and would
> make a very atractive target for someone who wanted to provide email
> addresses to others for a fee.

Most mass e-mailers are in touch with one another via DEMMA, who's been
promoting the idea of "do not e-mail" list. If such a list and the scrubbing
software are made available for free on an FTP server, they'll know about it.

If they can get away with e-mailing their stuff to hundreds of thousands of
addresses and not having theur plugs pulled by merely scrubbing their lists
from people who object, they'll salivate over this prospect and kick the asses
of whoever jeopardizes their business by mailing to "unscrubbed" lists.

> I'd say it's a safe bet that the unscrupulous could easily sell a large,
> up-to-date list of email addresses of people who DON'T want junk email to
> people who want to send such mail.

I rather doubt it. Business people tend to be much smarter than the geeks
you see at academic computing centers and ISP's.

---

Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps