Uncle Sam vs. Spam

Dam the Spam: Five Steps to Stop Spam

No single solution will put an end to all spam, but these tactics could slow it down.

A federal law that relies on opting in: Antispammers and even some e-marketers agree that only recipients who ask to receive e-mail advertising can accept it with equanimity. A federal law based on opting in, requiring advertisers to get a request from you before they e-mail you, may be the only way to stop both spammers and mainstream marketers from cramming your in-box.

Send spam, go to jail: Virginia mandates criminal penalties for spammers who falsify e-mail addressing information. New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has initiated criminal proceedings against Howard Carmack, aka The Buffalo Spammer, charging that he used stolen identities in his spamming activities. Putting spammers in the slammer might convince some of them to find a new line of work.

Unleash the lawyers: Leaving antispam enforcement to understaffed bureaucracies is no solution. Freeing an army of angry users (and ISPs with deep pockets) to sue spammers out of existence would be much more effective. Antispammers and their lawyers have already ferreted out most of the worst offenders, but imagine their zeal if money were involved.

Charge bulk e-mailers postage: Adding a "postage" fee--say, one tenth of a cent for each message--that kicks in only when senders attempt to deliver 1000 or more messages a day would deter many spammers. ISPs would be happy to collect (and keep) the fees, and legitimate marketers could receive a favorable rate if they adopted consumer-friendly practices. On the other hand, some observers argue that, once bulk mailers have to start paying for e-mail, individual users will be next.

More-imaginative technological solutions: A promising idea called HashCash, which would be implemented on ISPs' servers, makes a sender's computer solve a complex equation for each message before the ISP will deliver it. It causes a trivial delay for most senders but slows a spammer's mail delivery to a crawl. Another innovation: EPrivacy Group's Spam Squelcher detects spam coming into a network and slows the connection to submodem speeds until the spammer gives up and looks for another victim.