Can-Spam Increased Spam

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Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday February 1, 2005 @05:14AM from the eggs-bacon-sausage-and-sniffle dept.

andy1307 writes "According to New York Times, spam has actually gone up [Free registration required. You gave real info, right?] since the CAN-SPAM act went into effect. There is a graphic in the article that illustrates this increase. Before the CAN-SPAM act was passed, spam was about 60% of all e-mail traffic. Now it's 80%. In a we-told-you-so quote, Steve Linford, the founder of the Spamhaus Project, says CAN-SPAM legalized spam by giving bulk advertisers permission to send junk e-mail as long as they followed certain rules. Slashdot covered this story last year. For companies that offer offshore "bulk advertising" servers, business is booming. A survey from Stanford University estimates the global cost of spam in terms of lost productivity to be at 50 billion $ and 17 billion $ in the US alone. CAN-SPAM does give prosecutors some leverage to go after the merchants - but it must be proved that they knew, or should have known, that their wares were being fed into the illegal spam chain. " The BBC has a related story talking about rates of spam, viruses, and scam mail.

6 of 362 comments (clear)

And the spammers seemed like such nice people by Anonymous Coward · 2005-02-01 05:15 · Score: 3, Funny

Who would've thought they'd abuse a new law?
1. Re:And the spammers seemed like such nice people by andy1307 · 2005-02-01 05:55 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  They should have called it CAN'T-SPAM....What do they expect from people when you tell them they can spam..
It's a shame too... by Powercntrl · 2005-02-01 05:16 · Score: 5, Funny

I was truly hoping Can Spam meant sealing spammers up in airtight containers, preserving them for study by future generations.

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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
1. Re:It's a shame too... by Tackhead · 2005-02-01 05:17 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  > I was truly hoping Can Spam meant sealing spammers up in airtight containers, preserving them for study by future generations.
  What do you have against archaeologists from the future?
Re:Cross your T's and dot your... by FortKnox · 2005-02-01 05:51 · Score: 3, Funny

so you might say the i was a casualty? Heh, thanks.

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Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Re:I THOUGHT TO I UP THE FUCK SHUT YOU TOLD by Rufus88 · 2005-02-01 05:57 · Score: 5, Funny

Re:I THOUGHT TO I UP THE FUCK SHUT YOU TOLD

Remember kids, Jolt Cola and HP calculators simply DO NOT mix!! Just say no.