Is the CAN-SPAM Act Working?

DynaSoar writes "Lance Ulanoff of PCMag.com offer his opinion on the success, or lack thereof, of the CAN-SPAM Act. It doesn't appear to be working, though spammers have noticed, in that they try to make their spam look "legit". What might make a real difference, according to US Senator Conrad Burns, co-author of the bill, is international standards and enforcement."

No.

[crashnbur]

I get as much SPAM as ever, and it's not even fried with cheese between two pieces of bread.

hmmm

[nizo]

What might make a real difference, according to US Senator Conrad Burns, co-author of the bill, is international standards and enforcement.

Bring back public floggings or at least the stocks for offenders for god sakes.

It doesn't work, but...

[StuWho]

You can buy your solution here for only $29.99.

Free viagra with every order

Well...

[enderanjin]

It's working in the meaning of the word that means "not doing anything."

Re:hmmm

[irokitt]

It's been a while since we've had public hangings in the Western World, and I can't think of a better way to bring them back.

Or maybe we could put them in an arena with some lions...

What would help

[tuanjim_2001]

What would really help would be placing a $10K bounty on spammers head. As in you bring in the proof of spamming on an individual and you get 10K and their head on a pike on your front lawn.

No.

[Vainglorious Coward]

Big unsurprise, no CAN-SPAM isn't working (assuming by "working" you mean reducing spam).

A sample from my spam-bucket this morning (one of those logo design offers) :

[snip]This mailing has been performed by Internet Marketing Solutions, 1719 University Avenue, Bronx NY 10453 USA,
in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003,
approved and signed by the president of
The United States of America on Dec. 16, 2003.
For this reason, this email cannot be considered SPAM.

Dear Fr13nd, This is a *L3GIT* Oppertunity

[H8X55]

Dear:US Senator Conrad Burns,

Mr. Habeeeb Von Dusseldorf who has been in exile in South Africa for the last twenty-three years has recently passed away, his estate is interested in transferring US$450,000 into an american account for use in the fight against the resistance in the colonies. Please reply w/ your Banking information including ABA routing number and account number. following will be vital information for which to you to transfer the money. Your reward for said actions will be 20%.

Thank-you, Have a great day.

Col. Maj. Fariziq Mouselli Achmed.

Re:What would help

[maliabu]

$10K? but "YOU CAN EARN $3000-$8000 A WEEK BY WORKING FROM HOME" sending spams FOR these spammers :)

Re:I don't get spam..

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps this will help you understand: [e-mail]

Re:Faster than ever

[lcde]

what shocked me is when my mother logged on to AOL, she started getting popup windows (not IM's) that were for sexy webcams and such.

We won't know until November!

[El]

If the congresscritters that sponsored it get re-elected, than it worked! What... you mean is it working to eliminate spam? Do you really think that was it's purpose?

Wrong punchline.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hint : When your subject is "I, for one..." your post should continue "...welcome our new spam overlords".

Re:War on Poverty, War on Drugs

[bigberk]

It seems to be working about as well as the War on Poverty and the War on Drugs.

Except in this case you can't escape to Canada to return to sanity. I should know, spam's just as bad here :(

- [e-mail] [mailto]

Re:hmmm

[ogre57]

.. is it really so bad that you'd actually want to flog someone publicly?

Just hand me the whip.

Flogging will do for a mild sentence, suitable for first offense, for the major annoyance of getting an average of five spam messages per day. (Thousands? Where did I put that pocket nuke!).

Second offense? One day of hard prison time per spam message per recipient, with daily flogging. Yes, that means spamming the same 100 people with 10 different messages would result in 1,000 days of quality time with a "Big Bubba" roommate.

Third offense? Prison, life, daily flogging, plus spend one hour of each day locked in a small room, surrounded and bombarded by ads.

.. and I am merely annoyed. Try to imagine the thousands (or millions) who are seriously pissed.