From: "jponiato" 
Newsgroups: alt.realestate.business alt.realestate.fsob alt.realtor
Subject: Re: The truth behind anti-telemarketing and spam laws...
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 13:45:48 -0400


"NOYB"  wrote in message
news:G4dze.37047$qm.17617@bignews5.bellsouth.net...

***snip***
>
> Rude is in the eye of the receiver. If it didn't work, it wouldn't
continue.
> In practice there must be many out there who respond to this sort of
> advertising. Which is evidence that the Government isn't responding to the
> wishes of the consumer, but to special interest groups.

Wrong.  Various studies show that few people who receive spam buy anything -
the figure ranges from 3% to 11% depending on the study.  Either way, it
means
the vast majority of users do *not* respond by buying as a result of spam.
So the government is responding to the masses, not special interest groups.
If the government was inclined to cave in to special interests, it would be
the
marketing groups who are in favor of spam.  After all, they are much better
funded
than those of us opposing it.

> the ultimate in "rude" in the eyes of the majority but you didn't see them
> responding to the wishes of the people. But they DO respond to the people
> who won't buy a $20 answering machine or use throw away e-mail addresses?
> Can't you see there's something wrong with that picture?
>
The problem is this:  If I get junk mail in my old-fashioned mailbox, at
least I
didn't have to pay the postage - the sender did.  If I get sales calls on
the
phone, I'm not expected to accept reverse charges.  SPAM on the other hand
is payed for by everyone who receives it, in their monthly ISP charges.  Our
ISPs
pay for the storage and bandwidth, and pass the charges on to us in our
fees.  Sure,
small businesses need to find creative ways to get their advertising message
out.
Expecting the general public to foot the bill just isn't fair.

For a wealth of information on SPAM, it's costs to society, it's affect on
available
bandwidth, and various legal matters surrounding it, see
http://www.cauce.org/congress/.

Jp