"You're trying to fit reputation policy -- which is a sociopolitical issue -- into a technical standard. A peg of infinite dimensions into a hole of intentionally finite dimensions. The likelihood that it'll fit is infinitely small."

I've said similar things many times in the past, but never this well.

I don't want cyberNOTHING to turn into one of those blogs that's nothing but links to other peoples' content, but one of my oldest friends & earliest co-conspirators recently wrote this extremely heartfelt essay about spam, and I feel it should be shared more widely. Please enjoy.

With Microsoft's announcement that (in effect) Windows Update won't work anymore unless you've got a legal copy of Windows, some geeks in the anti-spam space are torn. Keeping Windows up to date is extremely important for both personal and Internet-wide security, but being forced to admit to Microsoft that you paid for their software is an outrage to the knee-jerk anti-Microsoft crowd (and just feels kinda slimy to the rest of us.)

So, what's the morality here?

I'd think that from Microsoft's point of view, they'll win either way.