I’m seriously considering pitching a detective novel, about the hunt for a serial killer. The unique selling point will be that as the detective homes in on the killer, he gradually comes to sympathize with him, and ends up questioning whether he should actually collar the murderer … because the victims are all spammers.
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Samizdata quote of the dayFebruary 6th, 2008 |
 23 comments to Samizdata quote of the day |
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Hm. With a bit of strategic promotion in certain IT publications, it could sell quite a few copies…
So you’re going to throw a spammer into the works, are you? Perhaps the detective could just give the killer a darned good spamking and let him go? Now there’s a novel idea……
I have dreams about catching and mutilating the people who send me all that crap. Currently receiving about 500 spams a day. If I were the detective I would not just let the murderer off I would probably help him.
Hm. With a bit of strategic promotion in certain IT publications, it could sell quite a few copies…
Look, everyone HATES spammers. Why not promote it by telling everyone on the net? Just send an email to every address you can get your hands on.
Hell, you can even buy CD’s with millions of email addresses. I’m sure it would be popular.
Please do not ignore this. I am lonely pretty Russian girl, found your profile on the internet.
I may be visiting your town soon and we could meet. Please reply to natasha@dodgyspam.ru as I am using friend’s account.
Sounds good to me – but don’t just kill ‘em be creative about their comeuppance, maybe make the punishment fit the crime. Set it in the same milieu as ‘Halting State’, that could work.
I think spamming has moved into a definitely post-modern phase…
It’s like a weird compulsion because surely everyone ignores emails from the likes of “Lourdes Trotter”, “Resionously Enflamens” and “outsaying gastrophile coctile”.
They need to attend a course like this.
I want something that can loop a large amount of electrical power to a USB keyboard or mouse from the computers PSU and release it just prior to the spammer hitting the ‘send’ button on his email. The idea of frying not only his computer but also himself has no small appeal.
Charles Stross’s novels are well worth reading. My personal favourite is Accelerando, which describes the technological singularity including its effects on the economy. Glasshouse, in which post singularity humans take part in an experimental simulation of the 20th century, won an award for libertarian fiction.
Had the same idea except it involved a Star Chamber type organization that tracks down and liquidates spammers recording the trials, and executions for break.com. Also it wasn’t a book. It was a 401c nonprofit I was going to set up. 😉
If the detective studies the spammer killer’s methods and profile long enough to truly understand what drives someone to commit such acts he probably would find himself with a great deal of sypathy for that individual.
In the end the detective’s own sense of honor and duty would force him to capture the spammer killer and turn him over to the medical authorities to get the help he despartately needs.
After that the detective should take up the spamer killer’s richeous cause as his own and continue his good works.
otpu
It is ever so similar to “In the Miso Soup(Link)“, a Japanese novel where a tourist guide discovers a serial killer and decides against turning him in to the police because he begins to empathize with him. I think that was a spoiler since it doesn’t come about until the last five pages. My bad.
movie: Star Chamber
http://imdb.com/title/tt0086356/
been done.
Has anybody else noticed a drop in spam coinciding with the Chinese New Year? (As I understand it, a lot of the spam goes through open relays in China and Korea.)
Normally, I’ve been getting 150-200 spams a day; yesterday, it suddenly fell to about 50. When I first check my email in the morning, I’ve usually got about 100 in my inbox; this morning it was just 7.
(Also, is anybody else having a problem with the Turing code system? I had the same problem with my last comment on the Hillary Clinton thread; every time I tried to post it said I had the wrong security code — although hitting the Preview button causes the message preview to show up properly.)
Ted,
Preview changes security code, so you need to reenter the new one to submit.
Actually, I think I’ve figured out what the problem was. The last time Samizdata posted party pictures, I set the site to “show cached images only”, since the pages with lots of pictures invariably cause Opera to slow down.
The only thing is, the “cached images” setting was also sending old (ie. cached) Turing code images to the pages of individual posts.
Not a bad idea. But I think it would sell better if the victims were all conservative bloggers and radio personalities who prefer Hillary to McCain.
Dan,
I wrote, and put up on Lulu, a novel about a ‘moonbat troll’ trying to poison conservative bloggers, and the staggering speed of response from the Blogosphere as volunteers worldwide pitch in to track down the villain.
I think Death of a Blogger may be the world’s first blogger related mystery novel. Its decent for a first novel, I’d guess.
And Tom Kratman put out a novel from Baen with Hilary as president as she starts the 2nd Am. Rev.. No one has written a “McCain Prez” novel I’m aware of, but there likely will be one coming.
The anti-spammer novel needs some really grotesque and inventive murder scenes….ones that match the emails they are known to have sent. Like killing someone by overdosing them with Rogaine.
For those who send emails claiming to be royalty, and needing to transfer money…half-melt a plastic crown, and pour it down their throat. Like I said, grotesque.
In the sequel, they’ll all be telemarketers.
On another tack, I could get seriously rich if I could figure out how to collect a nickel from every spammer who darkens my eMail doorway.
The coveted Golden Rubber Chicken award goes to nick g. for his “spamking novel spanner”
Call it The Silence of the Spams.
Thanks, ZZMike, that rubber chicken tastes great! Someone could come up with a realiTV show, outing spammers so their neighbours shun them- that might make them change their evil ways.