National Do-Not-Spam List

[Shinobi128]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Oct15.html

Survey: Internet Users Want No-Spam List

By Robert MacMillan
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 15, 2003; 1:10 PM

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) today renewed his offensive against junk e-mail, citing a new survey that says 75 percent of the nation's Internet users want a national "do-not-spam" list similar to the anti-telemarketing registry launched by the Federal Trade Commission this month.

More than two-thirds of Internet users would sign up for the list, according to the online survey of 1,500 Internet users conducted by Stamford, Conn.-based research firm Insight Express and Chicago consulting firm UnSpam.

The survey also found that Internet users remain unimpressed with efforts to control spam. Less than half of those surveyed said spam filters are effective, and 40 percent of the respondents said that large Internet service providers are not doing enough to fight spam.

"Spam is not just a little nuisance, it's an epidemic, and getting rid of it for good is not as simple as just hitting the delete button once or twice," said Schumer at a press conference on Capitol Hill today to unveil the survey.

Internet users increasingly are buckling under a tremendous wave of spam inundating their in-boxes. Some estimates say that spam accounts for about half of the e-mail that people receive daily. The Insight Express survey found that one in four e-mails people receive at home are pornographic in nature.

Support for an anti-spam list swelled after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) unveiled its do-not-call registry earlier this year. That list now has 52 million phone numbers, and went live at the beginning of this month despite several court challenges.

Schumer introduced a bill in June that would create a national do-not-spam list. It also would fine spammers up to $100,000 a day and require e-mail marketers to put valid return addresses on their e-mails so consumers can request to be taken off their lists.

"We've got parental advisory notices on music and ratings for TV shows and movies to ensure that parents have the ability to keep their children from being exposed to inappropriate materials," he said. "So it's baffling that there's no safeguard in place to ensure that parents can protect their kids from vulgar e-mail."

Schumer plans to try to attach his proposal to an anti-spam bill sponsored by Sens. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). That bill, which carries the direct marketing industry's support, appears to have a better chance of passing.

Enforcing a do-not-spam list would be too difficult because it's easier for spammers to hide their identity, said FTC staff attorney Brian Huseman.

[stormy]

sign me up.

It's a shame when you think about how fast the internet could be without all that shit clogging it up.

[Gymkata]

faster than this car, if you could imagine

[Jeremy]

Holy shit...that car totally rules. A do-not-spam list would be nice, although I doubt it would ever really happen.

[K3V]

faster than this car, if you could imagine

IMPOSSIBLE!

[AstroBlue]

But it really could only be enforced in America, and the internet is much bigger than just America.

[Videodrone]

that car is a riot!

[bbobb]

But it really could only be enforced in America, and the internet is much bigger than just America.

That was my point as well... a national do-not-spam list really wouldn't cut down on spam much at all... it'll all just be sent from outsid the country.

[station82o]

it'd help - if just a little bit.... i'm for it.

[Diff-chan]

Its impossible. Most of these spammers set it up so that their spam is delivered from out of the country. It simply will not work.

Unlike telephone calls, spam is ungodly amounts of difficult to track - INTENTIONALLY!

This will not work.