From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 12:13:14 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: "Unwanted Mail"
Message-ID: <ae5e0391020210044711@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 9:48 PM 9/12/96, Rabid Wombat wrote:
>>
>> These people have invited the email, and the associated expense, by placing
>> a public email-to: button on their public www page.
>
>
>Most people put up an "email to:" button on a public page for
>communications related to what's on the page. It's quite a stretch to
>assume that this invites any and all email from anyone who cares to send
>whatever they want. I can't say I've ever seen one that said "Please send
>SPAM(tm) to:" ...

But to attempt to define "SPAM" (unless you're Armour) is dangerous. This
whole notion of "unwanted mail" is ill-defined and not something "the law"
should get involved in, in my view. (And CP technologies certainly are
consistent with this, e.g., placing the role of screening on those who set
up gates, not on tracking down True Names for prosecution.)

>However, since others may think like you, I guess I'll have to add a line
>above my link stating that email not related to the purpose of my site
>will be happily proof-read at the rate of $200 per hour, 1 hour per 60
>lines, minimum. Perhaps I'll get lucky. If I get a big enough chunk of
>SPAM(tm), it might be worth the costs of breaking down the anonymity.

As the legal eagles will tell you, the essence of a contract is a two-way
agreed upon set of terms, not a one-way "if you send me mail I decide I
don't want, you will have incurred a charge of $1000." Try enforcing your
$200 an hour "proofreading charge" in any court in the land.

(I've been saying this thing for several years. Who knows, maybe Rabit
Wombat was the first to use it. Whatever, it's as unenforceable and
meaningless now as it was several years ago.)

>No, this b.s. is more like having someone put a dead skunk in my mailbox,
>with no return address, trying to prevent me from sending them 100 dead
>skunks as a return favor. And about as welcome.

In the case of actual USPS mailboxes, there are laws which prevent others
from using them (e.g., no UPS or FedEx deliveries). For sure, dead skunks
can be placed in mailboxes, or under porches, or whatever. The law can't
fix everything.

--Tim May

We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."