New study casts doubt on antispam laws

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Hiawatha Bray <watha () monitortan com>
Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 11:00:40 -0400
To: dave () farber net
Cc: declan () well com, Hiawatha Bray <watha () monitortan com>
Subject: New study casts doubt on antispam laws

Looks interesting...

Hiawatha Bray
Boston Globe



Stopping Spam: New Study Focuses
on Anti-Spam Strategies
Addressing ISPs Troubles Will Ease Burden on Individuals

Washington, D.C., May 21, 2003-A new Competitive Enterprise Institute study
on spam email surveys the effectiveness of current user-based
countermeasures and laws and suggests additional strategies for stopping
unwanted emails through legal and technical solutions to help Internet
Service Providers (ISPs).

Spam is the consumer technology issue of the moment.  Everyone agrees it is
a problem, but there is little agreement on the best solution. And while far
more public attention has been focused on how spam affects individual email
users rather than ISPs and other large network administrators, the
consumer-focused approach is only part of the solution. The consumer is the
end of the spam's journey; its origins lie in the policies and technologies
of networks.

"While there is naturally more public sympathy for end users deluged with
emails for adult products and pyramid-marketing scams than for the headaches
of ISPs, solving most of the ISPs' problems would probably also solve most
of the problem for consumers," said Senior Policy Analyst and study
co-author Solveig Singleton.  "The converse is not true, however, meaning
that legal and technical solutions with an emphasis on the perspective of
ISPs are more likely to be effective for everyone."

The study, Spam: That Ill O' the ISP: A Reality Check for Legislators,
assesses contractual, technical, and statutory solutions, noting that while
there are some effective technical solutions to help consumers and
businesses control spam, ISPs, the most seriously affected, have found only
partial solutions.  It also concludes that effective spam control will come
only with innovations in enforcing laws or policies.  Many of the provisions
of proposed new laws thus far are too broad, but research on deterrence
shows none would be helpful without relatively strict enforcement.

The study, written by Solveig Singleton and Hanah Metchis, is available
online at http://www.cei.org/gencon/025,03482.cfm.

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the
principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information
about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.



Richard Morrison
Director of Media Relations
Competitive Enterprise Institute
1001 Connecticut Avenue NW
Suite 1250
Washington, DC 20036
202-331-1010 - x273
202-331-0640 - fax
www.cei.org


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