Spam - The Role Of Governments

In prior postings I have asserted that when it comes to the spam problem, technology will work better than legislation. I have not said that governments have no role. The FTC Spam Forum was a very good thing. It has raised a lot of attention and focus on the issue. Orson Swindle, one of the commissioners, was aggressive in challenging the corporate world to "solve the problem". Such encouragement is good. I can't prove that it was because of the FTC stick but it is very encouraging to have read recently that AOL, MSN, and Yahoo! have started a dialogue on how to deal with the problem. Governments have a role in prosecution of existing laws and making the public aware of the results (with the help of the media). Governments also operate the court system and speedy trials of fraudulent activities by spammers is extremely helpful. It was quite encouraging today to see that a federal judge awarded Earthlink damages of $16.4 million and a permanent injunction against a Buffalo, NY spammer. According to Patricia M. LaHay of the Associated Press, the spammer was the leader of a ring that used EarthLink services to send some 825 million pieces of unsolicited "spam" e-mail in the past year. He is now banned from sending spam ever again -- and from helping others send it. (read more)

Public Policy May 7, 2003 07:33 PM

FTC Spam Forum - Press Coverage

Federal regulators have only one ultimately effective tool - regulation (or the threat of regulation). Regulation through legislation is their hammer and when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail! Another way to say it is that when you are a regulator, many problems cry out for a regulatory solution. The regulators say the spam problem has gotten so bad that something must be done to protect the Internet. Senator Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is proposing a national "do-not-spam" registry similar to a service soon to go live that will block unwanted telemarketing calls. A do not call registry could potentially work -- in America. The Internet, on the other hand, is global and quite different in how it works technically and economically. I don't see any possibility of a "do not email" registry working. Most companies struggle to manage their own email list. Do we really think the government can manage the complexities of a national email database -- keep it up to date and keep it secure from hackers? (read more)

Public Policy May 7, 2003 06:39 PM