[Air-l] Re: why hate spam?

[Jonathan Sterne]

The answer is simple: advertising subsidizes the magazines I buy and the TV shows I watch, and thereby reduces their cost to me.  Therefore I tolerate it in those media.

It does not subsidize the cost of my phone line or my email box.  Therefore, like telemarketers, spammers are asking me to pay to provide them with a free resource so they can advertise to me.  I resent that.  We should not assume that it's okay for profit imperatives to infiltrate any and every aspect of our everyday lives, and the fact that someone wants to make a buck does not give them the right to my private time or space.

That said, I just delete all commercial mail without reading it -- repeat offenders get filtered.

Best,
--J