Programming Internet Email

Legislative Approaches

Many governments have taken an interest in spam, and a few laws are now actively in place. This does not mean that spam will be eliminated from the Internet just yet, but it does make it harder for spammers operating in places where laws have passed to make a living with spam without breaking the law. As the quote in the previous section showed, pressure from governments, as well as anti-spam activists, service providers, and angry recipients is making it more difficult for spam operators.

Anti-spam legislation has focused to date in two directions: mandatory labeling and outright elimination. Several U.S. states, the U.S. government, and several other countries have either recent laws or proposals in consideration. It should be noted that very few of these laws have yet to be tested in court. Large service providers, such as America Online (AOL), have been making headlines while bringing civil actions against spammers. The argument most often used by service providers is that spammers have used computing resources of the service provider in an unacceptable, uninvited, and unlawful way. This combination of criminal laws and civil actions have helped to turn the tide on the worst abuses by bulk emailers.

Mandatory labeling would allow spam in an otherwise unlimited fashion, as long as the messages contain labeling sufficient to filter it by those that wished. This is rather unobtrusive for spammers and would in fact legitimize their actions, but it would obviously ...