ok,
I sat down and figured out how much I should charge to have to deal with spam.
below is a sample letter I am sending to the 6 biggest offenders. (I'll use
SBC communications as they are the biggest).
what I would like is some help from an attorney thats conversant with the law
as it relates to computers and the internet here in the US.
Also, I have virtually no money to pay a retainer, but am willing to share in
any proceeds that are collected (if any).
The reason for this: I spend upwards of 2 hours per day culling all my spam,
reporting it to spamcop, confirming the reports and repeating the process.
last month alone I processed over 1296 spams this way (thats 60 hours last
month I spent on this).
if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know (if anyone here works for a
company that has a "net lawyer" available and is willing to help out, also
let me know!).
Mage
here is that letter...
********** sbc liability letter.txt ***************
22 December 2003
to: SBC Communications Inc.
175 E. Houston
P.O. box 2933
San Antonio, TX
From: <real name masked>, Network Administrator
<address munged>
Phoenix, Arizona 85033
Sir,
This is to inform you that your corporation is now liable
for the sum of $14,140.28* for my time required to deal with the UCE/SPAM
(herein known as "spam") originating from your network and subscriber base
and improperly allowed transmittal by you.
The originating networks involved are:
1. pacbell.net
2. swbell.net
3. ameritech.net
all of which are owned by your firm (as referenced in:
http://http://www.sbc.com/sbc_privacy_policy/0,,9,00.html )
or carry the SBC logo.
Explanation:
In November of 2003, I received (and reported) 1,296 pieces
of spam at a cost to me of $3.34 per minute in lost productivity.
Your firm respresents 2.16049% (or 28 actual pieces) of the
received total spam.
The calculation of the $3.34 per minute is a fairly simple one.
it is based on the "labored rate per hour" of $200 divided by
60 (number of minutes). The figure arrived at above uses this formula:
cost per minute multiplied by actual time (in this case, it takes 1
minute and 30 seconds to process each spam from reception in my inbox
through reporting to delivery confirmation) and then multiplied again
by the number of spams originating from your customer base. Also included
is the remedy from 47 USC 227 (a)(2)(b) which stipulates that I can charge
up to $500 per each spam (as my telephone and cable internet are integrated
services, this does apply) Thus:
3.34 * 1.5 (1 minute 30 seconds) * <actual number of spams> +
($500 * actual spams) = $total amount owed
hence:
3.34 * 1.5 * 16 + (500 * 16) = $8,080.16 for pacbell orginated e-mails
3.34 * 1.5 * 6 + (500 * 6) = 3,030.06 for swbell.net originated e-mails
3.34 * 1.5 * 6 + (500 * 6) = 3,030.06 for ameritech.net originated e-mails
Now, this may seem like a lot, but if you account for the costs your
firm has already incurred as a result of all the spam being sent, such as;
1. bandwidth overutilization charges from your upstream provider
2. service downtime due to overloaded mail servers
3. customer support cost to handle all the calls that are the
result of spam activities
4. lost productivity as a result of spam activities.
This can result in millions in lost revenue over the course of a year.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS:
1. secure your network by only allowing mail to be sent through your
e-mail servers instead of directly from customer boxes to anywhere
on the net (this will eliminate 90% of the spam problem)
2. exercise your AUP and TOS vigilantly
3. respond to complaints immediately and in a specific manner.
I hope this will help you to understand that spam is not a victimless or
costless action. It is by definition a Denial of Service attack against
the recipients (such as I) and as such, may fall under the terms of;
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,
Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996,
Cyber Security Enhancement Act of 2002,
sections 225 and 896 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002,
18 U.S.C. § 1029 - Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Access
Devices,
18 U.S.C. § 1030 - Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Computers,
18 U.S.C. § 1362. Communication Lines, Stations, or Systems,
and others. Also, the "attractive nuisance" of these "open proxies"
may be dealt with also by the above (and other related statutes).
Lastly, the volume of spam has not diminished since I started reporting.
This has all the appearance of a failure on your part to enforce those
policies (as published on your website). In essence, this has the appearance
that your firm is in collusion with the "spam vendors" or may appear to be
an accessory during the fact.
Thus, I request that you exercise immediately all due effort to minimize or
eliminate this problem. This does not, however, release you from your current
liability to me (as stated above). However, a concerted effort to stop future
spam may substantially reduce future liabilities.
Please forward the above stated amount immediately via corporate check
or certified check/money order. Failure to repond will result in legal
action to recover this liability.
Cordially,
<real name masked>
(text/plain)