An article in today’s News And Observer alerted me to one congressman’s plan to eliminate spam by taxing email. If this plan was on Fark, it would have the “asinine” tag in front of it.
Spam sucks: there’s no question about it. But politicians like Dayton don’t know a mailserver from a hole in the ground. Most politicians still are under the misconception that the Internet is a US-only network, subject to U.S. law.
Here’s a clue to the clueless inside the Beltway: taxing spam won’t work. Outlawing spam won’t work. In fact, few if any laws would have any effect on the Internet, because it’s GLOBAL.
Internet traffic routes around stupid laws. If its designers were truly brilliant, Internet traffic would stay the hell away from Washington.