NYT editorial Crack Down on Spam

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Crack Down on Spam

o one with an e-mail account needs to be told that unwanted commercial
messages, better known as spam, are a bad problem that is getting worse.
America Online reports that 70 percent of the e-mail its users receive is
now junk, and that the quantity has doubled just since the beginning of this
year. Much of the increase is being fueled by Internet marketing companies,
which charge as little as $500 to send out a million e-mail messages.
Internet service providers have taken steps to clamp down on spam, but the
tools at their disposal are limited. Congress needs to help.

The minutes recipients spend wading through unwanted messages add up quickly
in a nation with over 160 million Internet users. The extra Internet traffic
generated by spam also adds to the cost of Internet bandwidth, an expense
borne by those who receive the unwanted messages, not those who send them.
Internet providers have tools for blocking spam, but their value is limited.
Many filtering programs require e-mail users to block specific senders,
which is time-consuming and ineffective, given the enormous number of
spammers who are blasting away. Senders of spam are also cannily working to
defeat filtering software. One technique is to misspell words, like "Viagra"
or "pornography," that set off the filters.

A bill introduced by Senators Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican, and Ron
Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, would require that unsolicited marketing e-mail
have valid return e-mail addresses, making it easier for recipients to
remove themselves from mass e-mail lists or for Internet service providers
and states to sue spammers. Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York,
is introducing a bill that would require the Federal Trade Commission to
maintain a no-spam list, like the no-call lists for telemarketing phone
calls, and impose stiff penalties on marketers who repeatedly sent spam to
people who had opted out.

If these bills were put up for a popular vote, they would be passed handily.
But the direct marketing industry has been lobbying hard for its right to
keep sending spam. People should tell their Congressional representatives
how strongly they feel about fighting spam ‹ one e-mail note per person,
please.

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