Found this Spamming piece in the news today.

[blinc]

Now this just irks me... AT&T, whom I used to have a lot of respect for, has allegedly been hosting a website for a known spammer. Here's what the news story said:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"AT&T has yielded to an anti-spam group's request that it stop providing services to a purported sender of unsolicited commercial email.

The move came after an English anti-spam organization publicly posted what it termed a " pink contract" between AT&T and the alleged spammer, Nevada Hosting. AT&T had been hosting the group's Web site.

"This proves that AT&T knowingly does business with spammers and shows that AT&T makes 'pink' contracts with known spammers to not terminate the spammers' services," Steve Linford of The Spamhaus Project wrote in an email interview.

AT&T confirmed the authenticity of the contract and said it had been discontinued.

"That document represents an unauthorized revision to AT&T's standard contract and is in direct conflict with AT&T's anti-spamming policies," wrote AT&T representative Bill Hoffman. "The agreement has been terminated, and the customer has been disconnected."

AT&T's spam policy specifically rules out contracts like the one it signed with Nevada Hosting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's the link to the full story:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cn/20001103/tc/
and the title is:
AT&T changes course as spam policy is revealed

What do you guys think of this? I'm a little ticked.

[RoadRunner]

That's a welcome change.

This is what I think they ought to do to spammers:

{smash}{smash}{smash}{smash}
{smash}{smash}{smash}{smash}
{smash}{smash}{smash}{smash}

[theyeti]

{smash}{smash}{smash}{smash}{smash}{smash}{smash} is right.
Hmmm.. i use AT&T too.... i wonder if its going to affect anything.

[blinc]

I use AT&T for our long distance too. It's discouraging to think we're shucking over bucks to someone who supports the people who drive us nuts!! SPAMMERS!

[TWTCommish]

I hate SPAM, but I have to believe it is going to be accepted eventually, the same way junk snail mail is accepted. Even telemarketing, though hated, is accepted as part of life in general. SPAM will be as well in time.

[jamesglewisf]

The reason SPAM might not be accepted is that it costs the recipient something. It uses bandwidth on the recipient's email server.

[TWTCommish]

Understood - but the others use up our time the same way. I think it'll be closer to telemarketing than junk snail mail. No one cares about junk snail mail. People very much dislike telemarketing calls, but they don't go nuts and sue people over them really.

[blinc]

Junk Snailmail irks me more then any other kind of selling technique. Hey, they're cutting down trees to send us that stuff! The loggers have been in our county now for a couple years and it's devastating to see our beautiful countryside being laid bare... it's sickening to see.

So, yup... junk mail that wastes paper irritates the daylights out of me! I always try to respond by calling the people and asking to be taken off their lists.

*sigh* It's just so disheartening to get junk mail everyday and know it's going in the trash and how many millions of households across America do the same thing day in, day out... all the trees, wildlife habitats and beautiful countryside that were destroyed for those pieces of junk.

[keithster]

blinc,

Check out the yahoo listings. There are plenty of anti-junk mail organizations out there.

http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Marketing_and_Advertising/Direct_Marketing/Anti_Direct_Marketing/

When it was time to name the printer in our department, I offered the name "treekiller" which was immediately accepted by one and all.

[blinc]

Hey cool Keithster! I've used one of those, but think I'll sign up on a couple others as well. Can't hurt to have our name on as many anti-junk lists as possible. Thank you! :)

[momofnine]

Lisa gave me a great idea! It may not STOP junk mail, but it makes you feel like you can do something!! I take their postage paid return envelope, stick one of their pieces of paper (without my name on it) in the envelope, seal it, and mail it on back to them! Feels good to do that!!

[TWTCommish]

Originally posted by blinc
Junk Snailmail irks me more then any other kind of selling technique. Hey, they're cutting down trees to send us that stuff! The loggers have been in our county now for a couple years and it's devastating to see our beautiful countryside being laid bare... it's sickening to see.

So, yup... junk mail that wastes paper irritates the daylights out of me! I always try to respond by calling the people and asking to be taken off their lists.

*sigh* It's just so disheartening to get junk mail everyday and know it's going in the trash and how many millions of households across America do the same thing day in, day out... all the trees, wildlife habitats and beautiful countryside that were destroyed for those pieces of junk.

Actually blinc, we have more trees now than we did 100 years ago. :) Ya know why? Because the people making use of them have an financial stake in keeping them around.

[blinc]

But most of the replanted trees are pine... and those little 6" twigs they stick in the ground in planting zones don't make up for the natural wilderness areas that are being cut down around here. Not saying that at least they aren't replacing them TWT... it's just that it breaks my heart to drive down our road.

It used to be so beautiful in the summer, it was like driving through a winding, green tunnel, with the trees lining the roads, seeing an occasional fox or other wildlife. Now, it's nothing... just a mess where the heavy equipment came in, cut everything down that was "usable" and bulldozed some others to get them out of the way. It's enough to make me feel sick everytime I drive by and remember what it looked like a couple years ago. Guess you'd have to live in the country, get used to the beauty of the woods and then watch logging companies move in and wipe everything out to understand what it feels like. At least the pine forest directly across the road from us is still standing, but found out that a paper mill company owns the land and in a few more years will be going in to wipe that area out. Need to win the lottery so we can buy a couple hundred acres of woodlands and live in nature that no one can touch! :)

[TWTCommish]

Well, living in Pennsylvania, I see more trees than I can handle. We have, I think, about 10 huge pines right in our yard around our house! It's kind of odd, but nice, too.

It almost cracks me up though - I understand people are worried about trees, but when we drive over a bridge on top of a valley, I see trees literally everywhere - it looks like giant broccoli - I can't even see the ground anywhere! And this isn't even Vermont or someplace more populated with trees.

I don't think we're in danger of losing our trees - we may lose some of the more attractive ones, but in general, we're not in any major danger, aside from the Cosmetic variety. :)

[blinc]

Well let's hope the loggers don't hit your area. I never would have expected them to hit here... we live out in the boonies. If they found our woods, who knows what danger lurks for your woods! {toothy} Just imagine driving over that bridge and seeing nothing but stumps sticking up... bare ground... trees knocked over that weren't worth cutting. I'm so bummed every time I hear another logging truck go past, because I know there's another section of the woods around here gone.

Oh, here's some info from one of the sites that Keithster gave:

The average person gets only 1.5 personal letters each week, compared to 10.8 pieces of junk mail.
Each person will receive almost 560 pieces of junk mail this year.
That's 4.5 million tons of junk mail produced each year!
44% of all junk mail is thrown in the trash, unopened and unread.
Approximately 40% of the solid mass that makes up our landfills is paper and paperboard waste.
By the year 2010, it is predicted to make up about 48%.

100 million trees are ground up each year to produce junk mail.

[TWTCommish]

Yes, that is a shame. I'm not worried about the trees in the least, but yes, it is a shame anyway.

But heck, Junk Mail must work a bit if they're still doing it, so apparently it's a sound business practice. As long as that remains true, it will continue.

So, Spam doesn't seem so bad now, does it? :D No paper! :)

[blinc]

Originally posted by TWTCommish
So, Spam doesn't seem so bad now, does it? :D No paper! :)


You know, thinking of it in that context, you're right. I'd much rather get spam email then the snailmail that ruins so many woodlands. Good way to look at it TWT, thanks! :)

[TWTCommish]

My pleasure - it just sort of hit me too, LOL. I actually get very little junkmail on my main email account, thank goodness. My old one gets tons - 9 out of 10 emails there are junk mail. I'll have to get rid of those old addresses. :)

[momofnine]

I will vouch for all the trees here in Pennsylvania! Lots of em! I don't get any spam. Wonder why? All I get is the garbage I signed up for!

[Alec]

Originally posted by blinc
Originally posted by TWTCommish
So, Spam doesn't seem so bad now, does it? :D No paper! :)


You know, thinking of it in that context, you're right. I'd much rather get spam email then the snailmail that ruins so many woodlands. Good way to look at it TWT, thanks! :) I don't like the lesser of two evils argument. Get rid of both evils. I know they never will, but don't give me junk email because it uses less paper than junk mail. Why? Because junk mail isn't going away regardless of junk email. All you are doing is letting the people with no money send me junk mail over the internet.

[TWTCommish]

I know - I'm not supporting anything, just trying to find a nice way to look at things. Was half kidding anyway. :)

[blinc]

Well, I'm not saying I'm perfectly content now to get spammed! {toothy} Just saying it's a little easier to swallow now, since TWT compared it to snailmail and the trail that led me down, about what a waste of paper and resources that is.

If I did have to pick between the "two evils", I'd go with spam email... eventually my "blocked senders" list is going to get so big, I'll need another computer to just hold the addresses! *chuckle*