No Federal Do-Not-Spam Registry For Now

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "The AP reports today that the U.S. government has no plans to create a do-not-spam registry in the immediate future. Why not? They argue that the proper technology is not yet in place. 'A national do-not-e-mail registry, without a system in place to authenticate the origin of e-mail messages, would fail to reduce the burden of spam and may even increase the amount of spam received by consumers,' said the commission." The moral of the story is: never try. See the FTC's press release or their report (pdf).

Comments

There's more than just a lack of proper technology

[fiftyvolts]

There is a lack of proper legislation. The fundamental property of the Do-Not-Call list is that violators will be prosecuted by the FCC and can be held accountable with serious punishments. Quite frankly the current state of things leaves much to be desired in terms of punishment for spammers.

Fist I want to see some good national anti-spam legislation; then I'll ask for a national Do-Not-Spam list.

total waste of time

[mabu]

For the zillionth time, can we put an end to boneheaded ideas like this?

Almost all spammers are violating Federal law right now. A do-not-email list would be the most ridiculous thing ever heard of, and would more likely serve as a great source of addresses for spammers.

The problem is there is no enforcement of existing laws in this area. We don't need more laws; we don't need more goofy schemes. We need resources dedicated towards educating and funding law enforcement authorities on how to catch and prosecute spammers.

Re:Not yet ready..

[pilgrim23]

I keep Saying this and seriously I think this idea may work: Instead of a Spam tax to Microsoft, we pay a penny or so to a numbered Swiss account that is charged with paying for a dedicated band of mercenaries. After some well publicized cases of kneecapping of identified Spammers, I do believe the volume will finally subside...nad the cheers world wide will be deafening!