On 12/24/05, william(at)elan.net <william(_at_)elan(_dot_)net> wrote:
Hi John and happy holidays,
Same to all - Seasons Greetings
On Sat, 24 Dec 2005, John Glube wrote:
FTC REPORTS VOLUME OF SPAM DOWN
In a report to Congress, the FTC said the Can-Spam Act that
took effect two years ago has helped curb unsolicited
e-mail. The report also credits advances in technology, such
as better spam filters that weed out junk e-mail.The report
was met with some skepticism.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/technology/13451
053.htm
It seems to be the can-spam act was designed to reduce number of spam
emails being sent.
No. The CANSPAM Act was not designed to control volume.
It may not have had that spelled out, but my view is that it did
and you only confirmed it. The difference is really if the solution
is designed to address the issue at the source or at destination.
The legal solution is going to address issue at the source, i.e.
reduce possibility that some law-abiding party would send unwanted
email and that to me means reducing of volume of emails being sent.
I strongly disagree.
:-)
(When did that ever happen before.)
The Act does not prohibit the sending of unwanted
commercial email. The Act prohibits the sending of
commercial and transactional email that is not CanSpam
compliant.
Big difference.
The theory being that it is easier for Internet Access
Services and consumers to filter CanSpam compliant
commercial and transactional email.
Of course, the problem is that most UBE is not compliant
and technology is limited in its ability to filter e-mail,
especially if the spammer is using zombie networks.
I suggest people read with care the report of Mathew
Bishop, PHD, which you can read here:
http://www.ftc.gov/reports/canspam05/expertrpts.htm
The underlying flaw with the FTC report?
The Commission did not ask this question:
"Would a legal regime which starts by prohibiting the
sending of commercial email without express or implied
consent, in addition to prohibiting senders from misleading
recipients about an e-mail's origin and content, along with
giving recipients the ability to decline to receive
additional commercial email from the same source be more
effective in protecting the consumer against spam, defined
as unsolicited bulk commercial email and which includes
commercial email that is deceptive as to origin and
content?"
Unfortunately, the Commission has repeatedly rejected this
position as having any merit, because in its view the
problem is bulk email with deceptive characteristics.
This in spite of the cogent evidence coming out of
Australia, supported by the analysis of the Canadian Task
Force on Spam and the work done by Spamhaus, which supports
a yes answer to this question.
The refusal of the Commission to remove its blinkers is
understandable. Its mandate is to prevent deceptive and
unfair trade practices.
The Commission is the wrong agency to spearhead the fight.
It should be the FCC, since the problem is UBE, which is
communication over the Internet without consent and not
deceptive communications, which is simply a subset of the
problem.
Also, todate the big players have not supported asking this
question.
Why? Under the present regime, backbone providers can sell
bandwidth to spammers (by spammer I mean someone sending
bulk email without express or implied consent as defined in
the Canadian Task Force on Spam) and filters to down stream
users and consumers.
The large mail box providers have the resources to build
the suite of services required to survive and prosper under
this regime, so ensuring that consumers receive less
unwanted commercial email (which is not the same as
unsolicited bulk email) in their inbox.
The big corporate mailers find the present regime very
convenient given the opt-out data collection methods that
prevail in the market place (which amusingly the ESPC calls
indirect consent).
As such the regulatory agency charged with leading the
fight has no constituency to support asking this question.
<snip>
All that being said, I am of the view that the CANSPAM Act is an
ineffective legal framework.
Yes, I don't think its been very effective and FTC is just trying to
cover this up.
Well, I would not say the FTC is involved in a "cover up."
Rather, I would say that the report is consistent with the
initial stance taken by the FTC on how to deal with the
problem:
* outlaw deceptive activity;
* leave it to the market to sort out acceptable standards
for net behavior, and
* allow Internet access services (networks) to establish
and maintain the standard as to what traffic can go across
their networks.
This stance is consistent with the position "my server, my
rules," while supporting the view point that stopping the
Spam problem is primarily a technical problem.
This view point fundamentally misses the mark. Spam is all
about making money and the problem is social, not technical.
I would suggest that you can not solve a social problem,
sending unsolicited bulk email, which activity is driven by the
profit motive, with a legal framework that does not
prohibit the underlying behavior problem, sending
unsolicited bulk email, (or at least unsolicited bulk
commercial email - with commercial having an extremely
broad meaning) while relying heavily on the market to
develop technical solutions, including authentication.
Kind regards,
John
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