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Privacy Spam Your Rights Online

Switzerland Isn't Neutral Toward Spam 31

Posted by timothy from the no-you-fool-those-are-crosshairs dept.
Dhericean writes "Switzerland (with the assistance of Microsoft) is preparing a harsh new anti-spam law which would see not just the sender of the spam but those who benefit from it targeted. Does this mean we're going to see viruses sending lots of Microsoft and SCO messages to the .ch TLD?"
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Switzerland Isn't Neutral Toward Spam More

Switzerland Isn't Neutral Toward Spam

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  • Well... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Otter ( 3800 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @10:14AM (#8656116) Journal
    [A] harsh new anti-spam law which would see not just the sender of the spam but those who benefit from it targeted. Does this mean we're going to see viruses sending lots of Microsoft and SCO messages to the .ch TLD?"

    Only if the people doing so are subliterate morons who imagine that it will accomplish anything, let alone anything is possible. So, yeah, probably.

    Also, note that historically Switzerland's posture has been self-reliant, well-armed neutrality, not passive wussiness. Although the reality behind that pose mostly evaporated a century ago and their security has come more from the fact that it's convenient to have neutral ground during a conflict than from any real military capacity they have. (Although their troops do still have more tools per knife than anyone else's.)

    • I believe they still have the biggest army per head of poulation...
    • Switzerland has some fairly colorful history regarding technology-related laws and reaction to things like spam. For example, for a long time, some UK mobile providers blocked all SMS messages from Swiss numbers, because there were no laws in place prohibiting SMS spamming. Hence, people set up SMS relays all over the place here.

      Also, there are quite a few examples where federal or canton (state) level judges ordered ISPs to block websites for various types of content (including one example of "questiona
      • It's a really beautiful, pleasant, clean, functional and well-run place to live, and that sort of spoils you over time.

        Consider the possibility that this may be a result of the Swiss weirdnesses you've described as opposed to being in spite of them as you seem to suggest.

      • Wow. You got a US military Section 8 exemption for Swiss military service.
      • Switzerland has some fairly colorful history regarding technology-related laws and reaction to things like spam.

        Yeah, but not just tech laws. From what I read, way back you weren't even allowed to schleep your jewellery around (or was that own? I'm not sure). That, incidentally, is why these people took to another way of showing off your wealth and/or craftsmanship -- watchmaking.

        Disclaimer: Or so I've read.
    • their security has come more from the fact that it's convenient to have neutral ground during a conflict than from any real military capacity they have

      Actually, their security comes from a treaty (actually a couple of them) involving basically the whole of Europe that was entered into after the defeat of Napoleon. The treaty made Switzerland permanently neutral. No other country in the region is willing to attack Switzerland because every other country in the region is basically obliged to descend on the

  • Boost to .ch hosting (Score:5, Interesting)

    by G4from128k ( 686170 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @10:18AM (#8656178)
    If (BIG IF, I know) this cuts down on spam to .ch addys, I wonder if safe-haven hosting services will spring up in Switzerland. I may not be able to get Swiss citizenship, but perhaps Swiss citizenship for my domain would help stem the tide of spam.
    • How do you enforce the massive quantities of spam coming from dodgy countries like China, Korea, Nigeria and Florida?

      Answer: You can't.

      The limited number of Swiss-originating spam that I see in my inboxes (and I live there) is quickly dealt with by a very close-knit network of ISPs and their ilk. It's not tolerated anyway.

      If the US can't even effectively kill spam inside its own borders, how would, for example, the Justice Dept. react to a request for legal assistance and/or prosecution against the San
      • If the US can't even effectively kill spam inside its own borders...

        Not "can't"... "won't".

        The US is pretty much on its own sticking with the discredited opt-out approach. The reset of the world is going opt-in. It's not even a question anymore outside the US. If you're going to have a spam law (and you are), you go opt-in.

        The US is literally set to become the sleazy spam haven that Americans like to say the spammers will run to if the US bans spam.

      • One of the things that I really like about the swiss law is that it does attack the economic base of spamming -- the people who profit from it... The fact that I could (If I lived there) not only sue the spammers themselves, but also the people who are trying to get me to enlarge my penis (it's big enough for my liking, thank you) means that I can pull the financial rug out from under the apammers, and then kick them while they're down (in a legal sense, that is).

  • it's about time (Score:3, Insightful)

    by j-turkey ( 187775 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @10:20AM (#8656201) Homepage
    not just the sender of the spam but those who benefit from it targeted.

    It's about freaking time. If cigarette companies are responsible for advertising practices by an agent of the company, why shouldn't this apply to Spam?

    So...when can we expect something like this to trickle down to the home of the DEA^H^H^Hfree?

  • Smart move... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Cow herd ( 2036 )
    Personally, I think this is a smart move. By targetting those that create the demand for spamming, you can eliminate the profitability of the "service" and thereby put spammers out of business. The only problem I can see with this type of thing is that legitimate, opt-in type lists which are perhaps advertisement supported are potentially liable under this type of legislation as well.
    • Yeah, but most opt-in mailing lists are deceptive piggyback subscription scams which use concealment of of their "agreement checkboxes" to gain unknowing consent from the user, and they are indistinguishable from spam, in my book. A real opt-in ought to be some service you have to explicitly seek out and join, not something you're deceived into conceding to while distracted.

      The vendors who employ spam as an adverstisement method are just as complicit as the spammers, and I don't think it will be impossib
  • This would work in much in the same way that "caller ID" for telephones shows the phone number of the person calling.

    Why, when combined with Microsoft, do I feel a strong sense of dread and the words "MSN Passport" materialise into my head?
  • For anyone wondering, the Straight Dope [straightdope.com] has the answer, as usual.
  • The equivalent for joe is joe->joseph->Sepp

    job -> ???

    Well, I went with 'schtossa'.

    Joe Job -> Sepp Schtossa?

  • This is good news but there is hardly any spam problem here in Switzerland. To my knowledge I've received only one spam message advertising a Swiss company from a Swiss provider. I reported it to the provider who assured me that they had a policy against spam and would take appropriate actions to ensure it would not happen again.
    Compared to the tons of spam I receive from the rest of the world everyday, this law isn't going to change anything for me.
  • Does this mean we're going to see viruses sending lots of Microsoft and SCO messages to the .ch TLD?

    If either Microsoft or SCO has an open affiliate policy that is being made use of, then I would hope to see them targeted and subject to the new swiss law. But I doubt that either of them do.

    SPAM is a problem because companies don't monitor their affiliate programs to ensure that none of their affiliates are SPAMers. Companies that don't make an effort to police their affiliate programs should be subject
  • It's not very likely this bill will get passed anytime soon, if at all. In fact, it was already almost dead and they were ready to pretty much can the whole thing when Microsoft came along with their own proposal (which, by the way, does make me somewhat nervous; multinational corporations shouldn't be this involved in the legislative process, at least as far as I am concerned).

    This bill, at least in its original form, was part of the Swiss telecommunication reform act. The commision dealing with consumer

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