Re: Spam Film Idea

Blammo wrote:

> On 03 May 2006, - Steve Holmes entered spamcop and left
> news:[email protected]:
>
> 1) Are there other films about spammers?
>
> I remember one, not a film to the extent that you are talking about,
> though. I don't remember the name of the show, but there was a mother who's
> child was getting porn spam, and she contacted the advertised site to try
> and get it to stop. I don't remember the whole show, but they tracked down
> the spammer and confronted him, it took them quite some time because they
> went through quite a few companies and several dead-ends. I'm sure it was
> over 30 mins and quite interesting. Maybe someone else here remembers that
> program?

Yeah, I would be interested to know more about this one. If it's done all that
I propose to do, no use reinventing the wheel.

I'd love to confront a spammer, but tracking one down within a few hundred
miles might be tough. Too bad I don't live in Florida.


> But I think we need more education. Ignoring or blocking it does little
> more than make it a little more interesting for the spammer (it actually
> creates more spam). Fighting it is the way to go, and we need more people
> fighting, and less fishies.

Amen! That's the whole idea: Show people that spammers are usually con artists,
show them how to avoid, detect and fight spam and the flow of spam will dry up
significantly. There will always be Darwin Award winners who get suckered into
buying something that's too good to be true (even worse, they can vote and they
can breed). And even if spam becomes less and less profitable, there will
always be people who hear the siren song of one-million e-mail addresses and
feel it's a can't-miss deal. But education can take away potential customers
and add a new level of hassle. That would probably cause a lot of spammers to
walk away.


> I think a reality view of the spammer (and how
> easy it is for them) would be interesting. Also the domain registrars who
> accept money for all those crack domains, you can't complain to them and
> they don't care at all, that ain't right.

Yes. As I said, I don't want to let the big guys off the hook. Spammers are
snake-oil salesmen, but they couldn't do business without "more respectable"
people fronting for them. I doubt that GoDaddy, Qwest and other enablers would
grant me on-camera interviews, but if that's the case, I'd use a few shots of a
microphone pointed at their big, distant HQs as "equal time."


--
Steve Holmes
Executive Producer
"The New Ball Game"
"RailFAN"
319-337-9507