From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 01:55:36 +0800
To: Bill Stewart <cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: Re: Shooting the taggers
In-Reply-To: <v03102804b02380f8e70e@[207.167.93.63]>
Message-ID: <v03102801b024d368f2ac@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 10:45 PM -0700 8/22/97, Bill Stewart wrote:
>At 10:57 AM 8/22/97 -0700, Tim May wrote:
>>There's a solution for taggers: snipers.
>>(I'm indebted to Chip Morningstar for this succinct solution.)
>
>I'm highly opposed to this inappropriate use of excess force.
>Snipers with paint-guns?  Sure.  Snipers with rock-salt guns?  Perhaps.
>Snipers with real bullets?  Sorry, it ain't worth murder.
>
>On the other hand, the parallels between graffiti taggers and
>SPAMMERs are fairly direct...

No, "spam" is like a telephone call or other contact one may not like, but
which is using a legal channel. Like someone knocking on  your gate. (It
may be that many of these contacts are "unwanted." So? By listing an e-mail
address, or a phone number, or placing a buzzer on a gate, one is
essentially saying "Contact me." Some of these contacts, even if
unrequested, turn out to be positive. Some are negative. All are within
legal bounds.

Grafitti is a trespass onto physical property. If someone enters my
property and spray paints my walls, this is criminal.

It shows how overloaded and ambiguous the term "spam" has become when even
a usually careful writer like Bill is equating criminal trespass with
spamming.

(In one of the newsgroups I read, an increasing response to unpopular views
is to call them "spam." Jeesh.)


--Tim

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
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: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."