Can the Spam

CAN THE SPAM

The Internet has changed the way we work, learn and are entertained. E-mail has changed the way we communicate. For the most part it has improved our lives and made us more efficient than at anytime in human history. The bane of everybody on the information-superhighway is spam, unwanted-bulk e-mail. E-mail filtering companies estimate that spam accounts for over 80% of all e-mail traffic. I supported, and Congress passed, the CAN-SPAM Act, with the aim of reducing unwanted bulk e-mail intrusions into America's personal and business e-mail boxes.

The first provisions of the legislation went into effect earlier this year. The law requires spammers not to mislead recipients about the source or content of the e-mails they send. It also requires that recipients of spam have the ability to opt-out receiving additional e-mails from the same source.

Under a rule that became effective May 19, 2004, spammers are required to include a warning in the subject line of all e-mails containing illicit material.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charged with investigating additional measures including a national "do not e-mail" list, a system of monetary rewards to encourage people to report CAN-SPAM violators, and a recommendation whether or not commercial e-mail should be identified in its subject line by the use of a label such as "ADV."

A partnership of federal, state and local officials is vigorously pursuing the prosecution of those who violate the CAN-SPAM Act. Individuals who defy the CAN-SPAM Act can be fined up to $250,000 and corporations up to $500,000. In some cases, violators can receive prison sentences.

Several high profile spammers have run into the power of the CAN-SPAM Act. Two have already agreed to hefty FTC fines of $87,500 and $25,000, for using deceptive subject lines, spoofing (using false header information to make it appear the e-mail came from an innocent third party), or falsely claiming that they will remove recipients from e-mail lists.

Pending cases include one in the Detroit area, where the FTC charged the principals of a company with mail fraud for making claims and selling diet patches, which have no effect at all, and for violating the CAN-SPAM Act by hiding their identity through "spoofing," and failing to offer recipients the ability to opt out of future e-mail. A U.S. District Court judge has frozen the defendants' assets and barred their further illegal spamming. The second case is being brought against a spammer operating out of New Zealand and Australia, with the assistance of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the New Zealand Commerce Commission. Spam is a worldwide problem and governments around the globe are banding together to slow it down.

The FTC website offers good commonsense methods for reducing spam (www.ftc.gov/spam ). The FTC also has set up a special email box for people to forward spam that they believe may violate the CAN-SPAM Act at uce@ftc.gov . Finally, they have a toll-free helpline to call with additional questions and comments 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).

E-mail is one of the great inventions for communicating during our lifetimes, but its value has been damaged by spam. Recently America Online revealed they had blocked nearly 2.4 billion spam e-mails in a single day. It's going to be a long battle, but the CAN-SPAM Act is a starting place to make it safer for American families and businesses to open their email boxes without being subjected to illicit ads, cons and other frauds clogging their mail boxes.