The Senate unanimously approved an anti-spam bill Wednesday, significantly increasing chances that Congress will enact the nation’s first law restricting unsolicited e-mail before the end of the year.
Full Story, on The Can Spam Act of 2003, passed on a 97-0 vote, authorizes the Federal Trade Commission to create a do-not-spam registry, similar to the popular do-not-call registry that was signed into law by President Bush in September.
Puhlease…
Does anyone (even the little grey aliens outside my bedroom window) even believe for a second that this will work? Oh yeah, that rich guy in Kenya is going to pause to reconsider he may be breaking the law when giving me a chance at his family’s fortune.
Spam will always be best controlled by software with ever improving algorithms. SpamAssassin captures all of mine with very little configuration. I’d rather see an opt-in program that gives me cash/frequent flier miles for spam received.
Gotta agree
Yup, I’ve gotta agree with you. I don’t see how legislation can help control spam. Sure, it might help control the spammers who work out of the U.S. but then the spammers from outside the U.S. will just pick up the slack. OR U.S. spammers will start working out of foreign accounts.
Although, the opt-in program with bennies for every spam message received would be very nice indeed. 🙂
Re:Gotta agree
I’d almost rather get some sort of cash compensation for all the physical junk mail I get. 90% of my mailbox is junk, and I have no real way of opting-out of that. Congress should spend some time saving the environment from this type of spam instead. Think of all the trees that could be saved.
Re:Gotta agree
There used to be a website, 1-800 number clearing house where you could delete your name from snail mailing lists. I never could get the site to work. My advice is check all your e-mail accounts, any internet subscriptions to see whether there is an option to receive ads by mail highlighted. I’ve found that I have to check mine often because various providers will change preferences and highlight things I don’t want. If all else fails, start sending the junk mail Return to sender. If nothing else, we can annoy the junk mail people like they annoy us.
Re:Gotta agree
I just wonder why we worry so much about telemarketers and spam, when junk mail is such a physical problem environmentally. I suppose all that junk mail employs a lot of people and keeps the USPS happy.