[aprssig] Findu Messaging

[Steve Dimse]

It did not come through findU. All web activity on my servers is  
logged, even though the IP is not in the message, it is in the log.  
However, since the logs rotated 5 days ago, no message has been sent  
on either server with the word Nigeria in it.

There are many ways messages can get to the APRS IS, not just findU.  
Most have absolutely no traceability, unlike findU.

Even if it did come through findU, how would adding the IP help  
anything? Did he even do anything wrong? Well, maybe you could say  
identity theft, since someone is assigned the callsign. However, do  
you have a right to your callsign on the Internet? Your gut will tell  
you yes, we all have a strong attachment to our call, but it is not an  
easy question to answer. You certainly do hold exclusive rights on RF  
were there are governmental agencies assigning every station a unique  
callsign. On the internet, is your callsign anything more than just an  
alphanumeric handle? I use sdimse as my computer account name, I have  
a rare last name and I've never run across any other sdimse's, but if  
someone used it on, for example, AOL where I do not have an account,  
would that be identity theft? No. So is a callsign any different,  
really?

Even if you think it is identity theft, no one is going to prosecute  
him for sending an innocuous message like this, so an IP number really  
doesn't buy you much.

And finally, I don't think spam is the correct term. From SpamHaus "A  
message is Spam only if it is both Unsolicited and Bulk." Unsolicited  
yes, but SpanHaus says unless "the message is sent as part of a larger  
collection of messages, all having substantively identical content",  
it isn't spam!

Steve K4HG

On Jan 15, 2009, at 3:05 PM, Bill Vodall WA7NWP wrote:

> The APRS messaging page at Findu is incredibly handy..   So much so
> I've saved the link to my personal page and use it as an APRS client..
> (Thanks Steve!)
>
>
> But - maybe it's time to tag all the send messages with the IP address
> of the submitting user.
>
>
> Here's my first example of Ham-Aprs-Spam...
>
> WA6NWP 	 WA7NWP 	 01/15 17:00:50z 	Reply	 it is always like that in  
> nigeria
>
>
>
> 73
> Bill - WA7NWP
>
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