Agreed.

The tree of liberty will only grow when watered with the blood of tyrants, or was it telemarketers and bankers?

jmorrissey -
I always love it when the pre-approved credit card solicitations arrive weeks before my USAT card.

The only thing I can always think of is that USAT is looking for a way to offset costs with alternative revenue sources.

I'd just as soon not have the government tossing in more legislation (which would mean more bureaucracy and more squandering of our tax dollars, which the government takes from us in defiance of the Constitution.

The problem has to do with the private sector, and that's where it should be solved. Write to USAT and the others, and stipulate your objection. You could consider a small claims filing against each of them if:
1- You can prove they're giving out your private info
2- You can demonstrate damages... oops, that one's going to be tough.

The other problem is that e-mail is free... Well, it's not free, it costs somebody, but unfortunately IPs don't charge for the service. I'd like to see rate restructuring so that the legitimate cost of e-mail is charged to those who use it. If IPs want to give customers 20-50 free e-mails daily, that would be fine, but people who send out thousands upon thousands of messages, and DO NOT respect your demands to cease and desist (don't even bother clicking on the "please take me off your list..." link, that just lets them know that the e-mail address is actually valid) should at least have to pay for the privelege of annoying you.

I get over 200 junk e-mail messages daily. My solution? I plan to change my e-mail address and only tell my friends about the new one.

Basically, junk mail costs, so marketers tried to use it judiciously. Same is true for telemarketing. E-mail is free, so if they get a .00000000001% return, it's a great investment.

btw, I've got some great deals for you on Vicodin, Viagra, breast enlargement creams, hair removers, mortgages and dozens of other really "hot" deals, most from people whose command of English leads me to assume that their probably originating these e-mails from somewhere in Asia...

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...