"It Ain’t Ham" - Commentary by Tony Seton

It Ain’t Ham

I’ve been against capital punishment since I can remember, but lately I’ve been hedging my bet with an exception for people who mess long distance with personal computers. For the longest time I was basically free of spam. Then I followed an e-offer I mistook for legitimate. Then I got an email from my bank that wasn’t from my bank. Now half my email is spam.

I’m trying a couple of programs that maybe deal with it, sort of; I’m not clear what they really do for me other than separate some, only some, of the most obvious spam.

I am clear, however, that people who make money off of spam ought to shot down in the street and left to rot. As should be the virus spreaders and the identity thieves. With this type of depravity, I truly believe in the deterrent effect. It doesn’t work well with murderers because so often killing someone is a crime of passion; the perpetrator often doesn’t think about the consequences.

But computer crimes aren’t about passion, they are acts of social perversion. In an increasingly chaotic world, where our sense of identity is challenged and distorted, on a variety of levels on a daily basis, invading people’s lives through email, putting viruses on the computers of total strangers, and stealing a person’s name is more than a nuisance. It is corrosive of the very notion of community.

What’s so different about stealing someone’s car or breaking into their house? Um, maybe nothing, to some people, but to me -- and I’ve had both my car and my house broken into at different times; they were most unpleasant experiences -- there’s more of a predatory smell to the computer crimes. Perhaps because it takes place right in front of us, before our eyes, under our fingers; so to speak.

Another reason is that in the case of spam, it’s a mass attack just about money, and trying to draw it out of stupid people. It must pay off since spammers spam, so maybe there should be a do-not-spam list for people with double-digit and above IQs and the spammers can reap the harvest of the willing scalpees. That would also enable us to find the spammers more easily and well, you know.

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.