The following message was sent to me via one of my site feedback forms on June 26, 1999. It, of course, had no name or email address:
I see that you have installed links throughout your site to Spam Cop. I wish that you would reconsider this action. Spam Cop is on a mission to destroy legitimate business on the internet. I personally have been a victim of this despicable operation and have had to change my isp and my method of operation because of their actions. My business consists of online sales of medical and health supplies. I send out over 5000 emails a week to targeted mailing lists which result in 50 to 100 orders a week. Obviously some people wish to receive my mailings or I would not get those orders. I anonymize my return address only to avoid difficulties with auto responders, not to "hide out." My internet site is clearly shown on the mailings and someone can opt off the mailing lists by going to the site and sending an email to me.
The position taken by Spam Cop is that I have no right to send the email in the first place, unless people sign up for it in advance. Now I ask, how is this possible? If someone doesn't know about my business, how can he sign up? The only way for them to learn of my products and services is for me to inform them via email. If I could afford big splashy newspaper or tv ads to promote my business I would do so, but I can't. Spam Cop is hurting the little guys like myself who are trying to operate a legitimate business on a limited budget, while the big guys can operate unimpeded because of their ability to afford mass-media advertising.
The first amendment to the Constitution guarantees my right to free speech. Spam Cop, working in concert with the isp's is thwarting my rights. It is he who should be driven off the internet, not me. Please remove those links you have set up to Spam cop, for the sake of free enterprise and free speech.
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For those who don't know about SpamCop, it is a free service that will trace anonymized spam email to its source, in a matter of seconds, and allow you to forward a complaint to the perpetrator's ISP. This person admits to sending out 5000 unsolicited spam emails a week yet rails, in the name of free speech, against a service that allows you and me to protect ourselves from him. I am the strongest of supporters of free speech but I don't think that these spammers are protected in any way by the Constitution in harassing everyone with tons of spam email. The Bill of Rights prevents the government from interfering in our lives. It is their ISP's, private businesses, that are shutting these folks down when they receive complaints, not the government. Personally I think SpamCop is providing a greatly needed service and I enjoy watching the spammers squirm.
SpamCop seems to work, too. Since I have started using it, and I use it religiously on every piece of spam I receive, the amount that I have been receiving on all of my various email accounts has dropped from about 50 a day, to one or two a day. There must be a "spammers hot line" out there someplace where they spread the word. I can imagine what they are saying about me! 
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rcasaly@albany.net