SPAMMER bounty hunters?
p2pnet.net News:- “With no indication that a six-month-old federal spam law is lowering the tide of unwanted commercial e-mail, the Federal Trade Commission is considering a new approach that would put spammers in the same category as coyotes, rats and nutria by putting a bounty on their heads.”
Heh.
Actually, most species of spammers are much further down the scum chain than that. But isn’t siccing bounty (aka scalp) hunters onto people a typical entertainment industry-type trick and somewhat scummy in and of itself?
“CAN-SPAM suggests offering a bounty of at least 20% of collected fines to folks who report offenders,” says grokdotcom here in CAN-SPAM: Loin-Girding 101.
“The heart of CAN-SPAM is in the right place (he says as he wades through over 400 junk mailings a day wondering what in the world a Martian can do with Viagra!). The idea is to duke it out with illegitimate emarketers who employ fraudulent and deceptive tactics. But in defining the requirements that will limit Bad Eggs, the law also places restrictions on everyone who sends commercial email.”
The quote in the intro comes from an MSNBC story here which goes on: “The prize for a spammer’s virtual pelt? A hefty percentage of whatever civil penalty the FTC is eventually able to collect based on the information. And with the agency likely to seek multimillion-dollar penalties against egregious violators, such as those who ‘hijack’ other people’s computers and use them to distribute spam, that’s not chump change.”
The man behind the plan is, says reporter Mike Brunker, none other than Lawrence Lessig and the Federal Trade Commission is now “compiling and reviewing expert testimony” on his bounty plan, intending to report back to Congress by September on whether or not it thinks the idea is viable.
