It's been more than a year since the CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003) Act became law, yet email users are getting more spam than ever. People are getting more spam at work and more at home. The FTC is soliciting feedback on how CAN-SPAM can be improved. Will the changes under consideration improve the law's track record?

Unsolicited email as big a problem as ever

CAN-SPAM has failed to put much of a dent in the deluge of unsolicited email. According to a recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 28% of users with a personal email account say they are getting more spam than a year ago. 21% of users with a work email account say they are getting more spam than a year ago.

The quantity and content of unsolicited email directly effects the way people use the Internet:

* 67% say spam has made being online unpleasant or annoying.

* 53% say spam has made them less trusting of email.

* 22% say that spam has reduced their overall use of email.

More than half see spam as a big problem.

While spam is worse than ever, it appears that users are adopting a stoic attitude about it. According to Pew's Deborah Fallows, "Maybe people are getting used to spam, or becoming resigned to it, just like air pollution and crowded roads."

Spam still has an audience

Ultimately, spam will be around as long as it is profitable. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of people to support spammers.

Many people are still dealing with spam ineffectively. More than half the people that use email have helped spammers out by clicking on links within spam. 55 percent have used the unsubscribe links within spam, while about 40% have clicked on other links within spam, according to the Radicati Group. Clicking on links within spam lets the sender know that your email address is valid, leading to more spam.

Worse, 11% have purchased something as a result of spam, so the potential audience for spammers is huge. Worst of all, a significant number of email users have fallen for "phishing" messages, unsolicited email requesting personal financial information. According to Pew, 35% of users say they have received such email, and 2% have responded by providing the information.

FTC requests comment

The FTC is soliciting comments on changes to the CAN-SPAM law. The changes under consideration are unlikely to make a significant dent in the number of spam messages being sent. On May 12th, the FTC published a notice seeking public comment on certain definitions and substantive provisions under CAN-SPAM.

The Commission proposes rule provisions on five topics: (1) defining the term "person,"; (2) modifying the definition of "sender" to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single e-mail message will be responsible for complying with the Act's "opt-out" requirements; (3) clarifying that Post Office boxes and private mailboxes established pursuant to United States Postal Service regulations constitute "valid physical postal addresses" within the meaning of the Act; (4) shortening from ten days to three the time a sender may take before honoring a recipient's opt-out request; and (5) clarifying that to submit a valid opt-out request, a recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page.

People can provide comments via the FTC site.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Spam and Phishing: Email users get more spam, but the harmful impact of unsolicited messages is diminishing for them. More than a third of email users have gotten phishing solicitations

Email Hygiene Survey Results

FTC Publishes Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

FTC Comments Form

ITworld.com, Ecommerce in Action

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