FTC Will Not Create 'Do Not Spam' List

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

17 June 2004

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week announced that it will not be creating a national 'Do Not Spam' registry similar to the existing 'Do Not Call' list in the near future, arguing that to do so might actually increase the amount of spam received by those who register.

A report compiled by the Commission following the signing into law of the "CAN-SPAM" Act last year analyzed three types of possible registries: a registry containing individual e-mail addresses; a registry containing the names of domains that did not wish to receive spam; and a registry of individual names that required all unsolicited commercial e-mail to be sent via an independent third party that would deliver messages only to those email addresses not on the registry.

However, the FTC concluded that all three possible registry models could not be enforced effectively, observing that:

"A registry of individual email addresses also suffers from severe security/privacy risks that would likely result in registered addresses receiving more spam because spammers would use such a registry as a directory of valid email addresses. It ultimately would become the National Do Spam List."

" Furthermore, a registry of domains would have no impact on spam and a third-party forwarding service model could have a devastating impact on the e-mail system."

Instead, the Federal Trade Commission proposed the establishment of an authentication standard, making it more difficult for spammers to disguise the origin of their e-mails.

The body explained to Congress on Tuesday that: "Without effective authentication of email, any registry is doomed to fail. With authentication, better CAN-SPAM Act enforcement and better filtering by ISPs may even make a registry unnecessary.”

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