The Blog of Hans Eisenman

Is it Illegal to Send Spam?

I was looking for a summary of the Canned Spam law and found this website.  If I had time to read the law I would, but it's not short.  Posting this to the blog in case anyone else has been looking for information on spam and the legalities thereof.

Spam - Is it Illegal to Send Spam?.

Is Spam Really Illegal?

Spam is one of the most annoying things about using the internet. Lots of people think that it's annoying but don't realize that it can actually be illegal. There are lots of people suggesting that spam is illegal but if it is, then why are there so many unsolicited messages still being sent? Is it that people simply don't care about these laws?

It’s Our Net

This is an important issue.  Well, it is if you enjoy the freedom of information the Internet currently offers you and would like it to stay that way.  Congress is looking at passing a law that could draw and quarter that freedom and give most of it to big corporations, leaving the table scraps to individuals like you and me.

This isn't fiction, people.  It's the real deal and the time to act is BEFORE the law gets passed.  Getting something like this reversed would be much more difficult than applying enough democratic pressure to keep it from happening in the first place.

Read up on this issue and then consider what it would mean to your work, your life, your religion--your overall survival if your access to the 'net were greatly reduced.

Click on the link below to read the rest of the excerpted piece or just take action now.

Link: It’s Our Net.

"Tim Wu, Columbia Law School prof and net neutrality advocate, on what net neut means to you and me:

"The debate centers on whether it is more "neutral" to let consumers reach all Internet content equally or to let providers discriminate if they think they'll make more money that way.

"That was quite a nutshell. Got my attention. Here is the entire piece on Slate." [Click on link above this quote to go to the full article.]

Parents Get Hit For Their Kids' Pranks

Some kids in Quebec posted a video on the 'net which embarrasses another kid horribly--so much he has to permanently leave the school.  The kid and his parents sued the families of the three bullying kids.  It went to court and now appears as if there was a settlement--against the parents!

This is an interesting case: parents having to (it seems) pay damages for their kids' school prank gone wild on the 'net.  It doesn't get more "life and technology" than this.  I don't ever recall having previously heard of such a case.

What people tend to forget is what a magnifier the Internet really is.  I doubt whether the pranksters ever considered they would generate 76 million hits on the embarrassing video.  But the Internet knows no bounds when it comes to the sharing of information.  Strike the right balance and a typical poking of fun which would normally would attract the interest of less than a hundred people transmogrifies into a worldwide, viral media phenomenon.

Link: globeandmail.com : 'Star Wars Kid' cuts a deal with his tormentors.

"No one would comment yesterday about the settlement, including whether it included monetary compensation.

However, previous proceedings in the case had included discussions about whether the families of the three defendants had liability insurance.

The families of the three defendants have varying financial situations, court documents suggest. Mr. Caron's court filings include a letter from an insurer refusing to provide liability insurance coverage, whereas Mr. Laflamme says in his examination that his father had savings of $500,000 from an inheritance."