How to take all the fun out of Email
-or-
Spam is better as food than intellectual diverson.

I hate spam (unsolicited email). I get a lot of it and use a feature of my email client (Outlook Express) to Block Sender those that do not give explicit unsubscribe information. Having scanned a Privacy Policy, they often claim absolute privacy of information, that they will never share information with anyone without the expressed concent of whomever the information concerns. They have to do this, as there is a federal "wire" law that expressly forbids unsolicited email. However, as with all "law," there is a loophole. But that is covered by the requirement to provide explicit instruction how to be unsubscribed from any email automated list. D'oh! They are all automated.

I don't know much about email. As far as programming goes, it is a creature that is unique and not taught in this neck of the woods. It has the potential to generate considerable advertising base income. I do like the "e-zine" format, but it will take some doing to find a niche that hasn't already been saturated. It is one area that has attracted a lot of attention. Bottom line is that these "services" are dependent on their distribution mechanism...usually a person reading and writing individual email messages. It is a simple (but not necessarily easy) scripting task to generate several thousand useless messages a day to any email-based outfit that is in abuse of either the law or has stepped over a personal "line." However, doing so is equally illegal...a violation of the same email law!

"Come-uppance" aside, the unsubscribe function works about 99.8% of the time. It is the inconvience that is annoying. Each time I visit a site that seems interesting, I find a requirement of some sort of "membership" to enter their sites. With that, they often send a conformation or other unsolicited email. This "opens the door," under a cover natural to the medium.They can claim this automated function was an error, due to no covert act of theirs, improperly listing a person in dozens or hundreds of email lists.Of course, they are being paid, even if only a few mills of a cent, for every varified email address. A receipitant is stuck with a convoluted means to unsubscribe from these sites...a real pain in the wah-zoo. I am growing suspicious of sites that require membership (that do not hold propriety information). I don't need them, but they seem to need me to survive.

So, who is in the driver's seat? Often, I will write a short note about that; when I do decide more than deaf-ear knee-jerk reaction may result. The Internet is, on one level, a game of sheer numbers. The same con-artists that would steal your money in ponzi games exploit it via email. It is, however, also a personalized experience that must remain protected from assault against a peson's information. Theft of identity has become the hot primary crime in America today. I do expect more agressive action on the part of government to prosecute offenders.

Meanwhile, there are ways around things. Rule of thumb in programming is to always include a back door entry. Finding that back door is the stuff that hackers spend so much time at; time that I find a waste. But I know more than I am letting on here.