Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: SPAM article: got a story?
Author: Eric Soroos Posted: 8/8/2000; 10:32:35 AM Topic: SPAM article: got a story? Msg #: 19563 (In response to 19554) Prev/Next: 19562 / 19564
ISPs deny this. Is there anyone out there who works for or has worked for an ISP who could comment?I don't work for an ISP, but I can tell you that doing such a thing would be counter to most business aims of the ISP. ( I do work for an ASP, I don't speak for them unless they agree with me. But we will boot and fine anyone who spams, and would use the 'smite' key if we had one)
0) bandwidth is expensive
1) a significant percentage of the load on the isp's mailservers is spam.
2) a significant customer service cost is dealing with users complaining about spamming.
3) many isps jump through elaborate hoops to avoid spam to reduce the costs of 0, 1 and 2. This costs money.
4) isps have gone to court to stop spammers from accessing their systems.
Given that isp services are a low margin business whos' profitablilty is basicly connected with minimizing direct user contact*, any isp that encouraged spam in an effective hidden way would quickly see their costs rise to the point where they were driven out of business.
* basically, one service call can cost one month of user fees very quickly. Not profit from a user, but their entire fee.
eric
This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:56:01 PM.
© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.