Tough Crowd (Russian Anti-Spam Edition)

Russian-language media, both online and offline, has made little effort to conceal one central thought when dealing with the spammer's demise: that somehow the late [Vardan] Kushnir got what he deserved. "The Spammer Had it Coming," one headline reads. "Spam is Deadly," "Ignoble Death Becomes Russia's Top Spammer," "An Ultimate Solution to the Spam Problem"--84 Russian-language news captions on Kushnir's murder, retrieved by the Yandex News search engine within a day of the event, seem to share the general feeling.

That's an article about the brutal murder of Russia's leading spammer, "the most hated person among 17.6 million Internet users in Russia, whom he continuously spammed over the last few years, sending out tons of email ads for his language courses."

Whole thing here.

Tip of pixel to Ben Schwartz, co-author (with Terry Colon) of the most withering mockery of Dick Cheney of all time. Read it here.

Back in 2003 (god, that seems like years ago), Reason offered up its own solution to spam--one that stopped well short of murder--here.

Comments

[Jevo Jarkly]

Repost from the Reason Express thread:

My mind does not usually work this way, but I think the murder of the spammer should be widely publicized. Somebody should make it the topic of a poster that anyone can print up and put on their wall. From now on, every user of the Internet should celebrate July 24 as "Vardan Kushnir Day." Never forget!

The one thing we should not do is send everyone we know an e-mail a note about this.

I am not advocating murder, even of spammers. But apparently being murdered can be a consequence of being a spammer, and we should warn all current and potential spammers about this. By creating the proper climate of fear, we could save lives. And reduce spam.

[s.a.m.]

I guess if you really could kill spammers, then what next, jehova witnesses, a pandering politician, a Statist? I guess for the sake of the children, we should set some limits.

[Stevo Darkly]

No, no. Murdering spammers should clearly be illegal.

But celebrating the murder of a spammer -- at worst, that's merely bad taste. In this case, to be encouraged.

As for the children, on Vardan Kushnir Day they would all get a present. Only, they have to sort through a huge pile of annoying junk mail and fake presents to find it. So they can learn what it feels like. Instill the hatred early.

[andy]

Spammers rank right up there with trial lawyers, border agents, used car salesmen, and politicians. Good riddance.

May spammers everywhere take heed of this.

[Rich Ard]

Would you all be as excited about the telemarketer I keep chained up in my basement?

[Stevo Darkly]

Is she hot?

[Aaron]

They offered him a chance to opt out by snail mail. I don't think he has anything to complain about. In fact, I think he got off light. I would have set him on fire while he was still alive.

Rich - I'm not only excited that you have a chained telemarketer, I might be interested in coming by to give him a couple whacks myself.

[mediageek]

Why all the gnashing of teeth over this. Some of you are acting like spammers are actually human.

I find this perplexing.

[Jennifer]

But if the spammers all die, who will tell me how to increase my penis length and meet lonely, horny housewives? How will I gain access to the oil wealth of Nigeria?

If y'all took a second to think about the implications of all this, you wouldn't be so happy today.

[Number 6]

Now, if someone will just whack a few purveyors of pop-up ads....

[linguist]

"Some of you are acting like spammers are actually human."

I know that was tongue-in-cheek, but doesn't the guy have a right to market his product? I mean, aren't we supposed to support capitalism? Far as I'm aware spam isn't illegal in Russia.

I feel sorry for the guy.

[Number 6]

He no more has a right to spam than marketers have a right to stick their heads in my window and scream their pitches.

Look, these assholes spend most of their time trying to cirumvent the filters and other tools that people use to avoid their shit. To me, that makes them scum, whether or not their actions are legal.

[David T]

You guys just don't appreciate the beauties of spam. If not for spam, this country would be like North Korea, where you can't re-finance your mortgage or get your penis enlarged without government permission.