[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by Stuart W

Lets just see that attitude in other scenarios....

MASIVE queues at the dentist - No one is forcing you to get toothache.
CRAP finances for NHS hospitals - No one is forcing you to get ill.
AWFULL public transport - No one is forcing you to get on the train / bus.

What I'm trying to get at here is, you are indeed correct, no-one is forcing anyone in these scenarios. However, you are missing one important factor.
WE ARE PAYING FOR THESE SERVICES.

If ntl SELL me e-mail as part of their service, in the same way other ISP's do, I would expect it to work within acceptable paramiters.
Personaly, I'd find THOUSANDS of junk e-mails a day totaly unacceptable and fully expect ntl to do something about it.
Not because it's my individual account, but because this mail has to go through the ntl system and adds bandwidth to an already heavily loaded system.

It would be more beneficial to ntl than the individual customer if this problem was resolved.

Quite a few attempts at analagies that are nothing like what we are talking about and flawed to boot. If we were to compare email with snail mail there is one important point that emerges. The Post Office have to deliver to you all mail that is addressed to you and properly franked. NTL are not sending you the junk mail, they are just delivering it. There are plenty of people who do not want someone else to decide what email they get and what is not passed on to them because they think it is spam. I get several emails which I do want to receive marked as spam by Mailwasher and would be upset if I was not given the chance of receiving them.