Survey Suggests Spam Problem Worsening In The United States

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

23 March 2004

A survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in February, the results of which were released last week, has suggested that since the enactment of the Can Spam Act on January 1, the amount of spam received by internet users in the United States has actually increased in some cases.

According to the survey results, 29% of email users revealed that they had reduced their overall use of email because of spam, which represents an increase from last June, when it was found that 25% of emailers were reporting a reduction in their email use.

Additionally, 63% of email users said that the influx of spam had made them less trusting of email in general, which is up from the 52% of email users who reported declining trust in email in June.

42% of the email users questioned said that they were aware that Congress and the Administration had approved anti-spam legislation and that it had gone into effect at the beginning of the year.

Responding to the release of the survey, a spokeswoman for Oregon Democrat, Senator Ron Wyden, who co-authored the bill with Senator Conrad Burns (R-Mont) argued that:

"It's premature to pass judgement on the Can Spam Act only 77 days after it's taken effect. Sen. Wyden has said all along that stemming the tide of spam would require a multipronged approach."

Under the terms of the Can-Spam bill, senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail are prohibited from using a false return address, or a misleading subject line. Such e-mails must contain a valid way for those who receive them to 'opt out' of the mailing list, and must also contain the sender's physical address, as well as a clear indication that the message contains advertising material.

In addition, spammers are now explicitly prevented by law from harvesting addresses from web sites, and from hacking into computers to disguise the actual origin of unsolicited e-mails.

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