Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 02:39:42 -0400
From: Ted White <tedwhite at compusnet.com>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Speel checkers?
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

"Keith F. Lynch" wrote:

> 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.

I suppose spammers are operating on the shotgun-approach philosophy that
there is *bound* to be a few suckers among all those thousands of email
addresses -- suckers whose credulous responses will keep them profitable on
some level.  Otherwise, why bother?  But I cannot imagine responding to *any*
email offer spammed to me.  (I *do* have my name on a couple of legitmate
product lists -- for HP and the Norton people -- but to date have bought
nothing online from either company.)  To me the fact that it's spam makes it
suspect, no matter *what*'s offered.  (Lately it's Viagra or some herbal
wannabe, penis or breast enlargement and the perennial Work At Home/Make Big
Money pitches.  The casino pitches seem to have vanished.)  I find it easy
and effortless to hit the "delete" key.

--Ted White