The first United States federal law placing restrictions on the use of unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE), or 'spam', went into effect on 1 January 2004. While it is early days yet, the reactions of both anti-spam activists, and of spammers, to the new provision, known as the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003 ('CAN-SPAM' or the 'Act'), suggests that the Act is unlikely to have much effect in stemming the rising tide of spam messages (many originating from US spam gangs) that is clogging mailboxes the world over. Some of the apparent weaknesses of CAN-SPAM as an effective tool to thwart spam may arise from dubious drafting decisions, and some may be reflective of endemic shortcoming of any attempts to control spam by national legislation, given the inherent fluidity and anonymity of e-mail distribution through the Internet.
To read the full article, click here.