FTC Says Can-Spam Act Has Worked

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

In a press conference today, federal officials said that the number of spam emails is leveling off and that the Can-Spam law enacted two years ago is working. My question is: have they looked at their email lately?

At a press conference here, the Federal Trade Commission released a report (click here for PDF) delivered last week to Congress that said the so-called Can-Spam Act is “effective in providing protection for consumers.”

Can-Spam has permitted the agency to pursue lawsuits against spammers and has spurred adoption of “best practices” for commercial e-mail, such as including an “opt out” link and the sender’s postal address in any unsolicited message, said Lydia Parnes, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. Source: News.com

We Say: For months, months (!), I was receiving plenty of spam, but it was all going into my Bulk mail folder (Yahoo!) or my Spam folder (Gmail). Now I get an estimated of 10 - 20 emails per day per account that gets past the spam filters on both Yahoo! and Gmail … and this is in addition to the estimated 300 or so messages that do get caught and end up in the appropriate folders. Which is why I continue to use my email for my domain name only for correspondence to my most trusted friends … no one else. I have seen no drop-off of spam and I don’t want it to start hitting my “real” email address. What about you readers? Even if spam isn’t hitting your inbox do you see it clogging your Bulk mail folders?