Reply #79: The anti spam laws are weak to the point of being unenforceable

[ProgressiveProfessor]

The CAN SPAM law is better known as I CAN SPAM in the technical community.

The only thing that was ever effective in stopping spamming was blacklisting. MAPS, SPEWS, ROSKO, and others. It was decried as unaccountable vigilantism, which it pretty much was. Entire net blocks being listed because there was one bad apple that the ISP would not address. Sometimes it got to the point were entire ISPs were blocked. Lots of controversies, big companies suing BL managers into submission etc. LLots of things moved to countries with favorable court systems and the like. Its still ongoing. No major spammer has been terminated because it was illegal, they were terminated because continuing to host them was more painful than their $ was worth to the hosting company.

AT&T can choose to null route certain IP addresses or blocks. Its their network, its their call. The internet is a large collection of private domains and pipes run cooperatively. Its also designed to route around disruptions. If AT&T goes content rogue, I expect it would be a minor inconvenience for the most part except for their end users.

And yes I am not a law professor. I have better taste than to be a lawyer. I teach stuff with real laws and where decimal points matter.