'Spam' Is Not Always Glorious

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By Newsweek Editors

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FIFTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD CAnadian Austin Bastable is suffering from multiple sclerosis, and he's using the Internet to lobby against his country's ban on assisted suicide. But his campaign ran into trouble late last month when he posted a plea for help in 27 Usenet news-groups, the global bulletin boards of the Internet. Mass e-mailing on the Net is called "spamming," and it's about aspopular among Netizens as the famous luncheon meat is among gourmets, Enter Ottawa security consultant Chris Lewis, a self-appointed "de-spammer." He used a sophisticated program (called a spam canceler, of course) to erase Bastable's messages from Usenet servers around the world. Lewis's actions in turn drew angry e-mail from Bastable's supporters and sparked a debate over freedom of expression in news groups like news.admin.net-abuse.misc. "I do sympathize with Mr. Bastable," says Lewis. "But spam is spam." Bastable says he harbors no grudge against Lewis but feels he should have been informed before the messages were canceled. The Canadian press has paid so much attention to the dispute, though, that Bastable says "[Lewis] may have even done me a favor."

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