Karen Blakeman on Wednesday, February 04, 2004 at 9:20 AM responded to Chris
Spray:-
> > Too cynical??
>
> Not at all. Avoid this "service" like the plague.
But there are many other services and organisations who 'sell' e-mail
addresses. You only have to purchase some software to be inundated with
spam from a variety of sources, which continually grows and rarely stops.
That is one reason why many people continually swap e-mail addresses, or
create false ones to purchase/subscribe - which harms e-commerce
tremendously and unnecessarily chills many discussion groups.
Including the commercial aspects with the concept within Roger Clarke's
article and there is much building of network maps, either ostensibly for
the benefit of individuals or more openly. Legislation seems to be
ineffective on its own in this area, alternative supportive approaches
appear to be required
Collecting the e-mail addresses could be legitimate, but the various uses
any information extracted from a network map is put to may not be.
Accurately mapping a fluctuating network is neither efficient nor cost
effective, stability is needed to achieve those, and stabilising any
flexible network inevitably causes much damage. Snapshots often have a
limited lifespan, but that seems frequently to be forgotten. DP is flexible
legislation, computer programs and organisational processes are not always
so.
Rant of the week over. :-)
Ian W
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