Enough! The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) brags about shutting down the biggest spam network (Herbal Kings) in the world. Noticed a drop of unsolicited commercial e-mail (junk mail) in your inbox as a consequence? Neither have I.

Asset forfeiture and civil judgments just aren’t enough to deter spamming when it is so profitable for those who do it.

What’s the solution?

It is time for a law that requires career spammers be executed. I’m not talking about the Internet newbie who sends you spam inadvertently after getting your business card. That’s annoying but the newbie isn’t maliciously profitting by sending tens of millions of unsolicited junk e-mails monthly that waste countless labor hours trying to delete or fix damage caused by trojans, etc.

As for those hours wasted, imagine what humanity could do with it instead? Increase work productivity? Make technological and medical discoveries? Even a worldwide twiddling of thumbs would be better than cleaning out the inbox, updating spam filters, and running virus checks on everything to combat spammers.

Jerks who knowingly and willingly send you spam about diet pills, sexual enhancement drugs, fake Rolex watches, etc. should be put to death.

Does this mean we should become vigilantes and execute them? Of course not.

What I do mean is that Congress should spend half the time it does protecting Hollywood with bad IP laws passed because of bribes disguised as campaign contributions and devote the time instead to passing draconian laws that make it extremely painful for spammers to live and breathe on Planet Earth.

Before the bleeding heart Pollyannas of this world start screaming about spammers’ civil rights, let me be clear. The cretins should be afforded due process of law. But once convicted, sentenced, and the appeals exhausted, they should be led to a public square and executed. Ideally, the execution would be webcast and televised as a deterrent to others thinking of embarking on a spamming career.

And for those who are adamantly against the death penalty, I’m willing to compromise. Let’s borrow the penalty imposed by some Middle Eastern countries on thieves. After all, spammers steal our irreplaceable time.

Let’s provide due process in a court of law but chop off the hands as a sentence instead of imposing the death penalty. Repeat offenders lose other body parts (tongue to eliminate voice recognition software spamming) until Stubby the Spammer realizes it is time to pursue a legitimate vocation.

What do you think? How should spammers be punished?

 

 Spammers Should Be Executed - Internet Law [2:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

About the Author

With an advanced international law degree from Georgetown University and more than 14 years of real world legal experience, Attorney Mike Young shows entrepreneurs how to protect and grow their businesses online. He's the author of "Internet Marketing Legal Secrets Revealed," "How to Create Your Own Internet Business Without a Lawyer for Under $175," and the creator of Website Legal Forms Generator^TM. Not just a lawyer who focuses exclusively on Internet and marketing law, Mike’s been working with computers for more than 27 years (his first computer was an Atari 400 with 8 KiB RAM) and started representing Internet businesses back in 1996.