Re: [ot - sort of] spammer bites the dust (goodbye gtcdrom.com)

[Suresh Ramasubramanian <mallet@xxxxxxx>]

Frederick Noronha rearranged electrons thusly:

> I agree wholeheartedly with the view below. As one of the
> founder-members of ILUG-Goa, I would like to thank GTCDrom

 I have no problems with what other things GTCDROM is doing (such as making
 available a wide range of fairly cheap CDs of various linuxen, sponsoring lug
 meets and expos etc)
 
 However, I *do* have a problem with their spamming.
 
> To my mind, one has to be careful before copying Amercian
> concepts of what constitutes 'spam'. Those definitions come from
> a culture where privacy of an individual is a supreme value. In

 Oh yeah?  "Me casa, su casa" is a good concept - but it does NOT apply to
 mailboxes.  We pay good money for our mailboxes (and internet access time) -
 FAR more than what anyone in the USA pays for a similar service.  So, we - and
 not some marketeer - should be the arbiter of what we want and dont want in
 our mailboxes.
 
> Some of the "unsolicited mail" that ends up in my mailbox is
> actually quite useful to me. Just because it happens to be
> 'spam' based on some American definition, I'm not willing to
> look at it in the same manner.

  Not "American Definition", "Deepest African Definition" etc etc - spam =
  unsolicited commercial and/or bulk email.  Spam is not about content, it is
  about conSENT.  Sent that way, "Free Linux" and "Save the Whales" is just as
  objectionable as "Free Hot Teenage Babes" or "Buy Now!!! Stock Price will
  ZOOM!!!" - and deserves the same treatment (complain to the ISPs, get the
  site and email addresses deleted etc etc)
  
> Once again, I thank Taranath for all the help received from his
> organisation... as a small tribute, I plan to write a feature to
> the unusual work GT Enterprises has been attempting. --Frederick

  Again, Fred - as I made it VERY clear to Mr.Taranath, I respect everything
  else he and GT Enterprises are doing - _except_ the spam.  Take a look at
  what Linus Torvalds says about spam, it is quite lucid.
  
  Spam is NOT free speech / freedom of expression.  It is theft of service -
  and a shifting of costs for _your_ (your in the general sense) advertising to
  various people (your ISP, my ISP, etc etc) who dont know or care about
  whatever great offer is being advertised.
  
  My mailbox is mine, not the spammers.
  
-- 
Suresh Ramasubramanian + mallet<@>efn.org
  You spamma my mailbox, I nukea da ass