Rosher.Net

I was going to blog about chain letters after receiving an unpleasant one today, but it turned into a ramble (as usual) about censorship and free speech. In the end I thought I’d just post my return email, in case it helps someone else with the same problems.

[XXXXX] lovely. I don’t censor [miss’s] email and she’s had yours and this one forwarded automatically to her computer, but your message was caught by the wetware filter…

[miss] and I have discussed internet email and she agrees that chain letters and email are generally a bad idea. Many promise dire consequences should the instructions not be followed, which amounts to bullying. Also, many of these emails turn into a string of validated email addresses, which then get used by unscrupulous organisations in sending out Spam emails. You can see from your own email that both these comments apply.

Reading the actual message content of your email, which wasn’t easy as I had to get past all the old email addresses first, I was a little underwhelmed to find a story of the rape and murder of a young girl, with the promise of a similar fate to anyone who failed to send this tasteful message on. Knowing several friends who have been raped, and the repercussions and life changes that came of it, I was a tad upset and wonder if you might reconsider the content of your email.

I hope you’ll take this message in the friendly fashion it’s given, [XXXXX]. I don’t want to fall out with you. Moreover, I may do you a favour, because your email is illegal and may result in you and your parents appearing in court should someone with less of a sense of humour than I be upset by it. Try looking at the Malicious Communications Act 1988, and the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001

In friendship,

The names are obviously changed to protect the guilty. 😉

technorati tags: chain letter, Toma soto balca, censorship