Subject: RE: [Asrg] A New Plan for No Spam / DNSBLS

From: "Hallam-Baker, Phillip" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 19:53:36 -0700

> > The 'right' that appears to be being defended here is the right of
> > sysops to make decisions on behalf of their users with no 
> > accountability.
> 
> Nobody said anything about "no accountability."  I sense here 
> nothing more
> than a strong hatred of DNSbls, likely due to a bad 
> experience with them.

Of course nobody said anything against either motherhood or applepie.

The problem I have with blacklists is that the minute anyone points out that
there are a lot that are causing serious problems there is a move to
immediately circle the wagons and deny everything. 

Blacklists are inherently a censorship mechanism. Censoring spam senders is
good, nobody believes people have a right to speak to anyone who does not
want to listen. But it is still censorship and carries the risks of
censorship. It does not give me warm fuzzy feelings when I see people
playing with fire and get told, no they are not playing with fire, they are
handling chemicals in the process of oxidation.

As I say in the conclusion there can be a role for blacklists, but we have
to recognize that they are far from being a satisfactory solution, not least
because any process which requires large numbers of people to administer
systems according to subjective criteria is not satisfactory.

		Phill
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---

From: J C Lawrence <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 21:18:09 -0700

On Sat, 26 Apr 2003 19:53:36 -0700
Phillip Hallam-Baker <Hallam-Baker> wrote:

> Blacklists are inherently a censorship mechanism.

No, not at all, for the simple reason that there is no coercion or
threat.

  Censor:
    n: a person who is authorized to read publications or correspondence
    or to watch theatrical performances and suppress in whole or in part
    anything considered obscene or politically unacceptable

    v 1: forbid the public distribution of; as of movies or newspapers
    [syn: ban] 2: subject to political, religious, or moral censorship;
    "This magazine is censored by the government"

Blacklists exercise no such force majeure.  The are an advisory without
the ability to either compel, or to detect or castigate those who don't
comply or subscribe.

No, blacklists are just the old game of Coventry in British High
Schools, except without the peer pressure or political alignments.

--
J C Lawrence
---------(*)                Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
[email-masked]               He lived as a devil, eh?
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/  Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.
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