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Killing Spam, Quite Literally 13 February 2004 Edition
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How many times have you quietly found yourself wishing very bad things on the spammers who fill your mailbox with their dross and flotsam?

I'm sure we all share similar feelings towards these evil low-life types and the way they send hardcore porn solicitations to anyone and everyone, regardless of gender or age.

Some may think that the death penalty would be too good for some of these spammers -- but not one guy.

This story from USA Today indicates that "spam rage" is becoming a problem and has driven some people over the edge, causing them to make threats and take actions that appear totally out of character.


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Yes, at last, this feature has been updated again! (31 Mar 2003)

I bet a few of us can empathise with the poor sod who, after being drive to such extremes by a spammer, ends up facing criminal charges as a result.

This is not at all dissimilar to the situation that many Kiwis have found themselves in, where tackling a burglar on your property or defending yourself from attack is likely to result in assault charges being filed against you.

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The sage advice, when you feel a bout of "spam rage" welling up inside you, is to simply sit back, chill out, and take what satisfaction you can from the knowledge that by hitting the delete key, you're at least freeing up a bit of disk space.

However, given the number of homicides reported each year in the USA, I would wager very good money that it's only a matter of time before some spammer gets "whacked" for their transgressions.

I suspect that hardened gangsters get just as pissed off with spam as regular folks do -- and I for one would not like to be the spammer who pushes a drug-enraged gang-member over the edge.

Which is interesting, because I wonder how long it will be before we see drug pushers wake up to the power of spam?

Oh, sorry -- I forgot, I already get plenty of spam pushing prescription medicines that are illegal to procure without a note from your doctor.

But no, I'm talking about things like cocaine, crack, etc.

Given that I've never seen a single case where a spammer has been prosecuted for sending hardcore porn solicitations to a minor, I fear that selling drugs by way of spam would produce a similar level of disinterest from the authorities.

In an admittedly perverse way, I actually can't wait for the first instance of a spammer being physically attacked by an angry Net user. I'd wager that a lead pipe might just succeed where an army of bureaucrats and their ill-conceived laws has failed.

Help
If anyone's got an old laser or inkjet printer they're willing to donate or sell for a song then please let me know. My trusty old Epson 600 has died a horrible death and my ability to impart data to paper is now limited to this leaky Bic pen (nasty!).

Note also that the *new* Aardvark is now ready to go and (fingers crossed) will be incrementally rolled out next week.

New Forums!
Yes folks, good news. The grotty ezboard forums have been replaced with a new phpBBS-based system that won't assault you with a myriad of pop-ups and other flotsam.

A big thanks to Managed Internet Solutions for offering to provide this service.

You can access the new forums over at aardvarkforums.co.nz

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If you feel that this is a good thing and/or you hold a "geniune affection" for yours truly -- then you are welcome to gift me some money using the buttons provided. In gifting this money you accept that no goods, service or other consideration is offered, provided, accepted or anticipated in return. Just click on the button to gift whatever you can afford. NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally gift more than what you were intending :-)

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