The spam/blocking problem is really very simple.
Don't support spammers or activities that support spammers and you won't be blocked. It doesn't take a high school education to understand this.
Do “innocent” people get hurt when spam blocks are used?
Of course they do! That is, after all, the point. If enough “innocent” people begin getting clues, they will migrate to Internet service providers who don't allow spam in any form or spam-related activities, and stop supporting spammers by paying fees to providers that do. You have heard of blockades, haven't you?
The concept of denying a market to a group of people to force a behavioral change is as old as the siege.
Ken Magill's editorial (“Holidays in Anti-Spam Land,” Jan. 21) included the following sentence: “So please, just once, anti-spammers, save the avalanche of e-mail explaining that now-obvious concept.”
Do you know why the concept is now obvious? Because anti-spammers send an avalanche of e-mail! But it apparently isn't obvious enough yet because legitimate businesses such as Yahoo will still allow the sale of spam-supporting software through their Web site.
Paul Schmehl, Supervisor of support services, The University of Texas at Dallas
