kirkcudbright | why spam filtering is hard (Reply)

Sound like spam #1:

Dear Paul Selkirk,

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN(R)) recently agreed to reduce their Registrar Transaction Fee from $.25 to $.22. What does this mean for you?

Good news. You have been credited $.03/yr for each domain name you registered or renewed dating back to July 1, 2006* -- $.03 has been placed into your Go Daddy(R) account...

So I have a grand total of six cents credit, with which to buy fabulous GoDaddy services. W00T!

Sounds like spam #2:

The Requested License Renewal Transaction has been successfully processed on 04/30/2007 at 06:39:25.

Your renewed license will be mailed to you. Your new license will have a state assigned license number if you previously used your Social Security Number as your license number. If you currently have a state assigned number on your license, it will remain the same. If your current license has expired, you cannot legally operate a vehicle until you receive your renewed license, unless you print and carry this e-mail with you along with your expired license. The bearer of this e-mail has successfully renewed his/her Massachusetts license. The license is in good standing and is not currently expired, suspended, or revoked.

Federal privacy laws prohibit the RMV from printing the name, the driver's license number, or the social security number of the licensee in question on this receipt. M.G.L. c 90 sec 11 allows the Registrar to issue a receipt for the fees paid, which may be carried in lieu of your license for up to 30 days. A printed copy of this e-mail shall be deemed a receipt for the fees for the purposes of M.G.L. c 90 sec 11.

In other words, I can drive on an expired license, as long as I carry a printout of an email with no personally identifying information on it. If I'm pulled over, the cops will look me up in the RMV database, which they could (would/should) do even if I wasn't carrying this email. So what's the point?