FTC Going After CAN-SPAM Gaps

One of the major faults of the legislation is that it doesn't specifically target spam. The act actually attempts to regulate all electronic commercial messages on the internet.

Some of the laws implications are fairly straight forward. The sender must provide a physical mailing address with their message. Misleading subject lines or technical message information (headers) are not allowed. Users must be provided with a way to effectively "opt-out" from the mailing list.

Legally defining spam can be tough. Yet, I know it when I see it. My spam blocker program intercepts about 200 messages daily - all of which are spam.

Recently the FTC has been focusing on which commercial email messages are transactional - in that they are intended to contact and existing customer with new information, and which are intended to solicit. Different portions of the CAN-SPAM act would apply depending on which category the message fell into.

Regardless, most spammers have chosen so far to simply ignore the CAN-SPAM act. Without tough enforcement, future regulations will probably have little or no effect.

If a user has a spam problem and wants to retain their current email address, they have fairly few options. Spammers rarely if ever honor unsubscribe requests. So far the only real solution is to choose an anti-spam tool for their own use. There are currently dozens of different vendors offering different solutions.

The first applications targeting spam were released in the late 90's. The selection and quality of spam blocker software has greatly increased in recent years. Many of the newer products have moved on from the simple text filtering mechanisms that caused so many problems with earlier versions.

The FTC has recommended against creating a "Do Not Mail Registry." The concern is that such a list could actually be used by spammers to send spam.

When selecting a spam filter be sure to note the actual cost of the system before purchasing. Many filters require regular updates, and charge for them on a monthly or annual basis. Future updates to SpamButcher are free of charge.

SpamButcher is a powerful spam fighter. When used properly most users report it stops at least 97% of unwanted spam.

SpamButcher can be used as an Outlook anti-spam application, or with other email clients such as Eudora or Outlook Express.

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