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  • From: "Josep L. Guallar-Esteve" <jlguallar AT maduixa.net>
  • To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] Spam retaliation or not
  • Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 15:15:26 -0400

On Thursday 24 April 2003 02:06 pm, Brian wrote:
> I agree that turning the other cheek may be what is necessary. Gandhi
> believed this literally and just for the reasons you mentioned bellow.
> Sometimes it does take an act of submission and humility to show others how
> violent and arguably wrong something is. Funny how our internal "ethics"
> kick in when we see the direct results of our personal act of violence.
> Suffering.

Gandhi's non-violence strategy worked because "the other side" was an
understanding society, with moral and ethic values. Ghandi's non-violence
system doesn't work for the worked for Tibet against the Chinese. And it
didn't work[*] for SouthAfrica against the Apartheid.

[*] Non-violence alone didn't work

Spammers, have no moral, no ethic and no remorse. So "non-violence"
(ler the mailboxes fill up) would not work with them.

> I am not a luddite. Though I do believe that we have to work extra hard
> using written communication to keep it clear. You know how hard that
> sarcasms can be in e-mail.
> <sarcasm>
> Whoa stay off the road! Someone can't drive a stick shift. Whoa!
> </sarcasm>

I drive a stick shift. Stay off the road! :)

> So I guess the very fact that we are only communicating with the written
> word is the reason spam is so powerful. We have no easy un-ignorable way to
> make spammers feel empathy. Thus trigger an ethical response. Stopping
> spam.

So non-violence (letting mailboxes fill up) will not work.

Action generates reaction, be it "non-violence" or some other kind. Spam
generates anti-spam grass-roots movements, laws and lone rangers doing web
defacement (as happened to the Emailers of America (spammers association)
webpage.


Salut,
Josep
--
Josep L. Guallar-Esteve
AOL vs Josep -> http://www.ibiblio.org/sinner/aol.html




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