http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091201211.html
The courts in Virginia ruled earlier this week that a law prohibiting the sending of spam email messages is not legal--the ability to send spam is a protected first amendment right. Justice G. Steven Agee, wrote the unanimous opinion for the court stating that "the right to engage in anonymous speech, particularly anonymous political or religious speech, is 'an aspect of the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment.'" Agee cited a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court case. People in Virginia are more than a little upset by this decision due to the annoyance spamming creates. The case is expected to be appealed at the Supreme Court for a final decision. While I think that people should be able to say what they want in emails among friends and in public areas, sending spam to random people's email accounts feels a little more like invasion of privacy than freedom of speech to me...
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4 comments:
Where do we draw the line though? It's tough to determine first amendment rights -- just because it's unpleasant, should it be illegal? Or is the issue more complicated than that?
Most spam though isn't really about religious or political views. It's just trying to sell you something. I would like to see a "no-call" list created, like how you can opt out of telemarketing companies calling you. Though it might be harder to monitor companies producing spam.
I agree with the "no-call" type list though. Although a new trend that I have yet to find covered in newspapers is spam telephone calls to my cell phone. As far as I know, cell phones don't qualify for "do not call."
Sending prerecorded messages to cell phones is a violation of FCC rules. Unfortunately though, these cell spammers generally spoof the numbers on your caller ID and it is impossible to trace them and prosecute.
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