Ending spam's free ride

ABSTRACT

Spam is now a felony in the state of Virginia, as long as the unsolicited messages contain falsified information about the sender. With the harshest anti-spam law in the United States recently passed, Virginia---home to major ISPs such as America Online---is hoping to prove that legislation is finally providing the tools needed to cap the flow of bulk e-mail advertising. But to skeptics even the strongest anti-spam laws will be hobbled by long processing times and fuzzy jurisdiction. Rather, argues Barry Shein, owner of "The World" (which was America's first public dial-up ISP), effectively ending spam requires an inversion of the economics of e-mail---shift the burden of cost onto the spammers. Until then, argues Shein and other like-minded voices, even the strongest legislation and most advanced technological defenses will only continue to drop the costs of spam on our collective shoulders.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.0 General