Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 02:12:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at keithlynch.net>
To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Speel checkers?
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Ted White <tedwhite at compusnet.com> wrote:
> Interesting that a minority of the responses you got were from
> agrieved "business men" who had hired *someone else* in All Good
> Faith to do their spamming for them, and thus had no idea why you
> were annoyed with *them*....

Yes.  People who bought (or hired someone who bought) a list of 14
million "opt in" addresses, every one of which was *guaranteed* to
have asked to be repeatedly spammed.  People who were disabled while
single-handedly defeating Hitler in double-you double-you eye eye, and
who are supporting six blind wives and a kid who desperately needs an
operation, and who are just trying to make a little honest money so
their family won't be thrown out into the cruel snow on Christmas Eve.

If you object to receiving ads for lists of millions of email
addresses, simply ask to be removed.  The people who sell those lists
would be glad to remove your address.  They'll promptly recall all of
their CDs, destroy them all, and create a new set with your address
removed from them.  Right.  And then they'll come up with a peace plan
which everyone in the Middle East will agree to and live by.

> Obviously the Clueless have found the Internet.

The cluelessness consists of thinking anyone will fall for it,
thinking they can get away with it, and thinking anyone will be
intimidated by their threats of lawsuits and claims that the FBI
is investigating people who report their spams to their ISP.

I suppose there are a few legitimate businessmen caught up in it.
But it's mostly pyramid schemes and other frauds.  Mostly they're
after your credit card number, with which they'll open several new ISP
accounts in your name for further spamming, staying one step ahead
of the law.  Identity theft and credit fraud on an industrial scale.

The sad thing is, I can no longer report it.  I was spending
essentially ALL of my free time doing so.  By now I'd have to spend
more than 24 hours a day.  ISP abuse desks are overwhelmed, anyhow.
Literally trillions of crimes.  Doing anything about it would be like
trying to give a fair trial to every cockroach in a garbage dump.

We're losing email.  Enjoy it while you still can.
--
Keith F. Lynch - kfl at keithlynch.net - http://keithlynch.net/
I always welcome replies to my e-mail, postings, and web pages, but
unsolicited bulk e-mail (spam) is not acceptable.  Please do not send me
HTML, "rich text," or attachments, as all such email is discarded unread.