CPTech's Page on Spam
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United States and Canada
Latin America
Europe
Asia Pacific
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Miscellaneous on Spam
- April 17, 2002. Robert MacMillan.
FTC
Chairman Pushes Net Crime Vigilance, Not New Laws.
- April 11, 2002. Mark Webber in World eBusiness Report. Spam flood prompts new barriers.
He describes voluntary guidelines, various legislative initiatives and the use of common law.
- April 10, 2002. A Napster-like network might be able to stem the tide of spam mail messages flooding the
internet. Using the net to catch junk mail.
- April 2, 2002. International Netforce Targets Deceptive Spam and Internet Fraud.
Press Conference in Seattle, Washington and Video Conference Link in Washington, D.C to announce an international law
enforcement initiative targeting deceptive spam and Internet fraud. Agencies involved in
the law enforcement action include the Alaska Attorney General, Alaska State
Troopers, Alberta Government Services, British Columbia Securities Commission,
British Columbia Solicitor General, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal
Trade Commission, Idaho Attorney General, Industry Canada Competition Bureau,
Montana Department of Administration, Oregon Department of Justice, Washington
Attorney General, Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, and Wyoming
Attorney General.
- March 6, 2002. Ralph Nader and James Love. Letter to Chairman Muris and Commissioner Thompson
requesting that the OECD Consumer Policy Committee meeting in Paris March 13-14, 2002 put on its work program efforts
to find consensus on global actions to address the problem of spam.
- May 2001. Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD).
Resolution on Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail.
The use of unsolicited commercial electronic communication is a growing burden for people who use e-mail. A study published by the European
Commission in January 2001 estimates that the economic burden for private consumers amounts to 10 billion EURO per year caused by
unsolicited electronic mails. Another important aspect for consumers is the permanent violation of their privacy by such communications.
As this is an international problem governments need to work together to develop common approaches to address consumer concerns about
unsolicited commercial e-mail. Such approaches should recognize the distinction between commercial and non-commercial speech.
RESOLVED: TACD calls upon the US government and the European Commission to develop rules to ensure that commercial electronic communications can
only be sent out with prior affirmative consent of the consumer addressed.
- September 13, 1999. Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce (GBDe). Paris Recommendations : "Unsolicited commercial communications
Recommendations:
Business should continue to take this consumer concern seriously, and to develop guidelines
or codes of conducts regarding unsolicited commercial communications. Business should
also develop systems that enable consumers to express a desire what commercial
communications they wish to receive ("opt-out").
Governments should encourage voluntary self-regulating initiatives in this field and ensure that
existing or future regulations on unsolicited commercial communications are internationally
compatible.
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In the News:
- November 21, 2002. Lisa M. Bowman, CNET News.com. CipherTrust wants your spam.
- November 19, 2002. Stuart D Levi, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher. Washington is
first the state to prevail in a lawsuit brought under an anti-spam law.
- November 14, 2002. Hall Dickler Kent Goldstein & Wood LLP.
Maryland becomes newest state to enact anti-spam law.
Maryland joins the majority of states with anti-spam laws that are largely impractical.
While they may be used to attack isolated instances of illegal spam, spamming is so globally
prevalent that state laws are about as effective in stopping spam as municipal laws are
in stopping jaywalking.
- September 19, 2002. California has become the first state to enact a law banning
spam to cellular phones Davis signs bills to stop unwanted faxes and text messages.
- September 14, 2002. Candace Heckman. State wins case against deceptive spammer.
- September 13, 2002. New York Times Op Ed. Taking On Junk E-Mail.
- September 4, 2002. Declan McCullagh. Groups seek federal action on spam. CNET News.com
- July 8, 2002. Lee Gomes. Hotmail Has Quite
a Job to Save its E-Mail Empire From Spam. "You think you've got a problem with spam e-mails because
of the dozen or so you get every day? Welcome to Hotmail, where they get more than a billion."
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July 3, 2002. Michelle Delio. How One Spam Leads to Another.
"If you want to be your own boss and make money working from home while increasing
the size of your penis and shopping for cut-rate electronic products from China -- you're in luck.
The quantity of e-mailed advertising pitches for these and other fabulous opportunities is about to
increase dramatically, according to research by Bob West, an anti-spam activist."
- June 11, 2002. Chris Gibson in World eBusiness Report. The Senate Commerce Committee has approved an
amended
version of the Can Spam Act (S 630). The bill would prohibit the transmission
of false or misleading commercial email and require all spam to include a valid
return address so that recipients could opt out of receiving subsequent messages.
The bill would broadly preempt all state causes of action against commercial email
that meets these standards. In exchange, it would allow state attorneys general
(and the Federal Trade Commission) to bring actions against spammers who continue
to flood users with messages and give internet service providers the ability to recover
costs associated with damages caused by spam. The co-sponsors - Senators Conrad Burns
(R-MT), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) - are optimistic
that the bill will reach the Senate floor, but it is unclear whether this will happen
in the near future.
- May 29, 2002. Attorney-General sues spammer Correspondents in New York.
- May 22, 2002. Governor signs bill letting Internet consumers block disclosures.
The spam provisions in the second part of bill S.F. 2908, prohibits the use of misleading headers by spammers and
requires the use of "ADV" for "advertisement" in the subject line. The e-mail must also provide information to the
recipient on how to stop the organization from sending unwanted spam.
- May 17, 2002. Senate toughens up on spam (Reuters).
- May 6, 2002. Steven Bonisteel. ISP Can Finally Disconnect Spammer, Court Rules.
- April 15, 2002. Tamara Loomis. Lawyer Files Suit Against E-Mail Spammer.
- April 12, 2002. Steven Bonisteel. Top California Court Refuses To Hear Spam Law Challenge.
- April 2, 2002. Joanna Glasner. The Law Is Going After Spam.
- April 2, 2002. Lisa M. Bowman. FTC crosses borders in Net bust.
- April 2, 2002. Brian Krebs. U.S., Canadian Law Enforcement Target Fraudulent Spam.
- April 2, 2002. FTC Press Release. Sweep Targets Deceptive Spam and Internet Fraud.
- April 1, 2002. David Colker. State Spam Laws Rarely Enforced.
Internet: It's difficult to track down senders on the Web, and prosecutors are busy.
- March 28, 2002. In Techdaily: Disturbed by the amount of misleading and pornographic e-mail sent to his
family's home computer, a Michigan legislator has introduced a measure to
stop the influx of unsolicited commercial or spam. H.R. 5777, sponsored by
Rep. Marc Shulman, would require commercial e-mails to contain accurate
header and subject information. The bill also would prohibit the sending
of e-mails to consumers if their addresses were garnered from a third
party, such as a chat room, without the recipients' consent. Shulman hopes
to stop the millions of pieces of spam that clog consumer in-boxes with
misleading information.
- March 27, 2002. The Spam Wars: What Can Be Done about the Annoying, Unsolicited E-mail That Is Driving Us Crazy?
The Cato Institute Policy Forum with Howard Beales, Federal Trade Commission;
Rebecca Richards, TRUSTe; Chris Hoofnagle,
Electronic Privacy Information Center; and Jerry Cerasale, Direct Marketing Association.
- March 25, 2002. Gwendolyn Mariano. Spammers lose in small-claims court.
- March 21, 2002. Stefanie Olsen. Spam flood forces companies to take desperate measures.
- March 21, 2002. Declan McCullagh. Spam Showdown at Battle Creek.
- March 20, 2002. John Leyden. ORBZ shuts up shop, cites criminal charges.
ORBZ, the anti-spam blacklisting service, is shutting down.
- March 5, 2002. In Utah: Legislature passes bill taking aim at junk e-mail.
- March 1, 2001. Michelle Delio. Candidate: Spam in Every Pot.
- February 22, 2002. Maureen Sirhal. Utah Lawmakers On Verge Of Passing Anti-Spam Law.
- February 19, 2002. Michelle Delio. Not All Asian E-Mail Is Spam.
- February 13, 2002. Yuki Noguchi. FTC Joins The Fight Against Spam.
- February 12, 2002. Robert MacMillan. Privacy, Spam, Broadband Top Sen. Burns' Agenda.
- February 12, 2001. Maureen Sirhal. E-Commerce: FTC Nabs Seven For E-Mail Fraud In Anti-Spam Campaign.
The FTC is asking consumers to continue sending copies of the spam they
receive to the FTC via its Web site. The agency receives nearly 10, 000
such messages per day.
James Love, director of the Consumer Project on Technology, decried the
FTC's weak efforts and noted that a more effective approach to preventing
spam would be to forge an international agreement on the subject.
- February 12, 2002. FTC to Launch Attack on Deceptive Junk E-mail. Chairman Timothy J. Muris
and Federal Trade Commission staff will announce a three point program to crack down on deceptive spam.
- February 11, 2002. Herbert W. Lovelace. Secret CIO: It's Time To Slam Spam Once And For All.
- February 11, 2002. Lisa M. Bowman. FTC's working for a spam clampdown.
- February 5, 2002. Steven Bonisteel. Second Opinion Sought In California 'Spam-Law' Challenge.
- January 31, 2002. Brian Krebs. The FTC announces a first crackdown
on Spam in Newsbytes.
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January 31, 2002. Julia Scheeres. An Internet privacy group has created an e-mail
certification program that will require
member companies to identify themselves when sending unsolicited messages.
Spam Gets a Stamp of Approval
Having some standards for opt-out mail is interesting, but not that interesting if it is limited
to a few senders of mail, not enforced, or does not allow software to effectively manage this
for you," said James Love, director of the Consumer Project on Technology, which supports
legislation that tags unsolicited e-mail so it can be detected by software.
-
January 25, 2002.
DMA to Control Spam by DMA Members in Slashdot.
- January 24, 2002. Stefanie Olsen. Marketing group scrapes off spam label in CNET.
- January 21, 2002. John Gaffney. Is It Spam or Is It E-Mail Direct
Marketing? In Business 2.0.
- January 18, 2002. Maureen Sirhal. Twenty states have laws regulating commercial e-mail in an attempt to curb spam.
And presently, 41 bills are pending in 18 states. In Technology Daily.
-
January 13, 2002. Lawsuit Against Spammers in Slashdot.
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January 4, 2002. Gwendolyn Mariano. In California: appeals court upheld the state's anti-spam law, ruling that
it does not violate a clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Appeals Court Steps on Spam.
-
January 3, 2002. Lou Marano.
"As much as one-third of all e-mail sent is spam. Setting up a dial-up account and sending out several
hundred thousand or 1 million e-mails" in
No federal laws to slow down 'spam'
-
December 12, 2001. Jeffrey Benner. Wham, Bam, Thank You Spam,
A Washington State judge found in consumer's favor in four separate cases for $500 apiece.
In each case, he ruled that the spammers had sent Haselton deceptive e-mail solicitations prohibited under
Washington state's 3-year-old
anti-spam law.
- September 17, 2001. Jeffrey Benner. "Nearly 6 million people in 24 states have registered to have telemarketing calls blocked under new do-not-call
laws" in Antispam Laws: Where Are They?
in Wired.
US Federal Legislations (107th Congress-2001-2002):
- H.R.3146 Title: To restrict the transmission of unsolicited electronic mail messages.
(introduced 10/16/2001)
Latest Major Action: 10/29/2001 Referred to House subcommittee
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H.R.2472 Title: To protect children from unsolicited e-mail smut containing sexually oriented advertisements offensive to minors.
(introduced 7/11/2001)
Latest Major Action: 8/6/2001 Referred to House subcommittee
-
H.R.718 Title: To protect individuals, families, and Internet service
providers from unsolicited and unwanted electronic mail.
(introduced 2/14/2001)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2001 House preparation for floor: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 43.
-
S.630 Title: A bill to prohibit senders of unsolicited commercial electronic
mail from disguising the source of their messages, to
give consumers the choice to cease receiving a sender's unsolicited commercial
electronic mail messages, and for other
purposes.
(introduced 3/27/2001)
Latest Major Action: 3/27/2001 Referred to Senate committee
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H.R.1017 Title: To prohibit the unsolicited e-mail known as "spam".
(introduced 3/14/2001)
Latest Major Action: 5/10/2001 House committee/subcommittee actions: Committee Hearings Held.
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H.R.95 Title: To protect individuals, families, and Internet service providers from unsolicited and unwanted electronic mail.
(introduced 1/3/2001)
Latest Major Action: 2/12/2001 Referred to House subcommittee
US Federal Legislations (106th Congress-1999-2000):
- H.R. 3113 Title: Unsolicited Electronic Mail Act of 2000
- H.R. 2162 Title: "CAN SPAM" Act of 2000
- H.R. 1910 Title: E-Mail User Protection Act
- S. 759 Title: Inbox Privacy Act of 1999
- H.R. 1686 Title: Internet Freedom Act
- H.R. 1685 Title: Internet Growth and Development Act of 1999
- H.R. 3024 Title: Netizens Protection Act of 1999
- H.R. 612 Title: Protection Against Scams on Seniors Act of 1999
- S. 699 Telemarketing Fraud and Seniors Protection Act
(None of these bills were enacted.)
States:
June 2002: Twenty US states now have anti-spam laws that prohibit false messages or
headers in email messages, require labels in subject lines or the option of
declining a marketer's future mailings.
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- March 28, 2002. Pamela Licalzi O'Connell. Online Diary. Surfing From an All-Spam Station.
I rarely read the junk e-mail that floods my mailbox. But listening to Spamradio
(spamradio.com), I was reminded of the potentially insinuating effect of such messages.
This site, started up last week, takes spam that randomly arrives at its host computer and automatically converts it, using text-to-speech software, into an audio broadcast.
Spam is an inescapable part of online life, and many examples on Spamradio
will be instantly recognizable to regular Net users. The site, which is noncommercial,
tries to satirize this form of direct marketing and to lament its pervasiveness,
said Ian Morrison, a self-described Net artist and one of the site's creators.
By focusing on the language of spam, Mr. Morrison said, he wants to demonstrate how
it "paints a world that makes the screen disappear."
- March 2002. Spam history.
Next month will be the seventh
anniversary of the notorious
spam attack on Usenet by
Lawrence Canter and Martha
Siegel, immigration lawyers
who were among the first
spammers on the Internet--and
arguably the most reviled. The
duo blanketed thousands of
the Net's oldest discussion
groups, known as newsgroups,
with messages touting a "Green Card Lottery."
On CNET News.com.
- December 1996. Brain Tennis" on Spam. Debate between James Love and Scott Hazen Mueller in Wired.
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