FC: BusinessWeek: "Spam -- the inevitable result of capitalism?"

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

---

From: "Jane Black" <jane_black () businessweek com>
To: <declan () well com>
Subject: Spam -- the inevitable result of capitalism?
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 11:26:18 -0400
Organization: BusinessWeek Online


Hi Declan,
I'm getting good feedback on this story, which is part of BusinessWeek's
latest look at the Web and society. Thought it might be of interest to
Politech readers...

<snip> In a sense, spam may be too much of a good thing. True, plenty of
junk communication existed pre-Internet, but there were -- and still are --
accompanying costs. Telemarketers have to pay the phone company to interrupt
you during dinner, and organizations you have no interest in supporting have
to pay the post office to send their solicitations. But spam costs almost
nothing to reach hundreds of millions of people. So, here's the question for
technologists, economists, and legislators: Is there such a thing as
communication that's too cheap? </snip>

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2003/tc20030610_1670_tc104
.htm

The rest of the report is here:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/tc_special/03social.htm

Cheers
Jane Black




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