Paying Spammers Not to Spam

Founders of a new antispam service say they have developed a system to convince spammers to remove specific e-mail addresses from their mailing lists, but two major spam-fighting groups are warning potential subscribers to stay away. The service, offered by San Antonio, Texas-based Global Removal, charges subscribers a $5 lifetime fee to have their e-mail addresses put on a permanent do-not-spam list. Addresses on the list are then compared with, and removed from, mailing lists maintained by Global Removal's partnering businesses -- more than 50 known spammers and an equal number of legitimate e-mail marketers. Global Removal CEO Tom Jackson believes that, unlike other attempts at creating do-not-spam lists, his company's system will work because it gives spammers an incentive to cooperate: money. Although businesses that sign up to partner with Global Removal agree to remove addresses from their lists for free, they are enrolled in an affiliate program that earns them $1 for every new subscriber that they bring to the service. To keep Internet users from being bombarded with messages about Global Removal, the businesses are only allowed to send out one message about the service to their cleansed mailing lists.