Brian Cooley on Spam Non-Crisis

by on September 15, 2004 · 4 comments

Brian Cooley of ZD Net had a very entertaining essay on Spam yesterday that is must-reading. I agree with every word of it and absolutely love the line about the grandmas on AOL and people in John Mellencamp videos. Click here (and scroll down a bit).

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About Adam Thierer

Adam Thierer is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He previously served as President of The Progress & Freedom Foundation, as Director of Telecommunications Studies at the Cato Institute, and as a Fellow in Economic Policy at the Heritage Foundation. He is the author or editor of six books on technology and media policy and also writes a weekly column for Forbes called "Technologies of Freedom." Thierer earned his bachelor's degree in political science and journalism at Indiana University and received his master's degree in international business management and trade theory at the University of Maryland. His passions in life (besides technology and liberty, of course) are fast cars, fine cigars, and good beer.

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  • klist

    As far as “we’re pissed about spam because we think of our in-boxes as personal space.”, I think Brian Cooley should be more specific. Working in a IT/engineering department, I see a lot of red-tape and politicking playing such a detrimental role that solving the problem of SPAM in my inbox is not worth my while.

    I do agree however with Mister Cooley’s statements that “Corporations can’t deal with the spam flood.” and ” Spam is costing corporations a fortune to manage.” are fallacies: the availability of knowledge as well as software on the Internet makes the implementation of a solution to such problem relatively simple.

    The problem is that initiative that affects a corporation at a large scale needs support from above. Support comes from understanding every aspect of the problem and the solution. Driven by a “not knowing is a sign of weakness” mantra, large corporations are plagued with C-Level people and decision makers alike that are unwilling to educate themselves.

    They are yet to show the resolve inherent to their position and swat that gnat once and for all.

  • klist

    As far as “we’re pissed about spam because we think of our in-boxes as
    personal space.”, I think Brian Cooley should be more specific. Working in a
    IT/engineering department, I see a lot of red-tape and politicking playing such
    a detrimental role that solving the problem of SPAM in my inbox is not worth my
    while.


    I do agree however with Mister Cooley’s statements that “Corporations can’t
    deal with the spam flood.” and ” Spam is costing corporations a fortune to
    manage.” are fallacies: the availability of knowledge as well as software on the
    Internet makes the implementation of a solution to such problem relatively
    simple.


    The problem is that initiative that affects a corporation at a large scale
    needs support from above. Support comes from understanding every aspect of the
    problem and the solution. Driven by a “not knowing is a sign of weakness”
    mantra, large corporations are plagued with C-Level people and decision makers alike
    that are unwilling to educate themselves.


    They are yet to show the resolve inherent to their position and swat that gnat once and for all.

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