FC: Weekly column: Lessig's wager, and Lofgren's new anti-spam bill

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Mon Apr 28 2003 - 11:04:25 PDT

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    I'll be speaking at the event via a video link from Georgetown law school. 
    Here are the details if you're near Stanford and were thinking of stopping by:
    http://www.politechbot.com/p-04680.html
    
    -Declan
    
    ---
    
    http://news.com.com/2010-1071-998513.html
    
        A modest proposal to end spam
        By Declan McCullagh
        April 28, 2003, 7:00 AM PT
    
        WASHINGTON--It's not every day people bet their jobs on the
        effectiveness of a law--let alone an antispam law. Many U.S. states
        have already enacted such e-mail laws, and spam keeps flooding in.
    
        But that's exactly what Larry Lessig, a Stanford University law professor
        and one of the most prominent liberal voices online, has done. A few
        months ago, Lessig made an unusual wager: If Congress enacts an
        antispam law that offers bounties for the reporting of spammers, and
        the law fails to "substantially reduce the level of spam," he will
        resign from his dream job at a top law school.
    
        Lessig is either extremely reckless or incredibly confident. He has
        asked me to be the judge of whether such a law proves effective in
        reducing the deluge of unsolicited e-mail that's clogging our
        in-boxes, snarling mail servers and driving Internet service providers
        to distraction. I've accepted.
    
        At an event Monday to unveil just that kind of antispam bill, Lessig
        will have a chance to put his career where his mouth is. He will join
        U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., to highlight new legislation, which
        goes by the awkward name of "Restrict and Eliminate the Delivery of
        Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Spam Act," or the REDUCE Spam
        Act.
    
        [...]
    
    
    
    
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