Senate moves to squash spam

TWO SENATORS, one Republican and one Democrat, have introduced a bill to help put an end to spam according to Reuters. It doesn't have big teeth but it should be enough to make spammers think twice.

The major provisions of the bill are that spammers must give a genuine return address and that they must honour any removal requests. In the case of the latter, the report doesn't say whether the firm doing the spamming or just the firm that is advertising via the spammers will have to remove your email address.

It's bad news for the spammers. It's also bad news if you were hoping to do a California style sue-them-until-they-bleed type thing. The only people who get to sue the spammers are state attorney generals.

In a bizarre twist, the previously pro-spam Direct Marketing Association has decided to come out in favour of the bill. Maybe the organisation is fed up of receiving tons of the stuff itself.

The only thing that's left to ponder is whether the bill is killing off part of the American way. A few Nigerians want to give the INQUIRER some money but the vast majority of spam we receive is from the US. µ