CAN-SPAM Act Turns 5 Today — What Went Wrong?

alphadogg writes "Five years ago, the US tech industry, politicians, and Internet users were wringing their hands over the escalating problem of spam. This prompted Congress to pass a landmark anti-spam bill known as the CAN-SPAM Act in December 2003. Fast forward five years. The number of spam messages sent over the Internet every day has grown more than 10-fold, topping 164 billion worldwide in August 2008. Almost 97% of all e-mails are spam, costing US ISPs and corporations an estimated $42 billion a year. What went wrong here?"

Nothing went wrong

[John Hasler]

Look at the name of the law. Working as designed.

Wait...

[wwwgregcom]

You mean you guys have still been getting spam?

War on BS

[Anonymous Coward]

Why am I not surprised. Ironic, kind of like the war on drugs. The stoners are winning.

Obligatory

[Yvan256]

To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem. - Douglas Adams

Re:Nothing went wrong

[Chris Burke]

Yeah, Spam already came in cans! Duh!

Re:More enforcement would help

[thetoadwarrior]

But the spammer is just a business man trying to make money. However the 6 year old is an evil communist terrorist trying to spread socialist values by stealing music. He deserves nothing less than a good water boarding at Guantanamo Bay.

Re:Nothing went wrong

[dgcaste]

Or better yet, read the page title. Pretty sure it reads "I can spam". Yes I can.

Re:hint:criminals don't follow laws

[Chris Burke]

Thanks for the hint! Now I know why my life of crime has been so slow to take off.

Re:More enforcement would help

[Wandering Wombat]

Wooo! Cuba has the best wakeboarding!

Re:Laws just hamper the law abiding

[gandhi_2]

In the town of Virgin, Utah it is legally mandated that every household that can legally have a firearm must have one.

You don't see too many terrorists there. QED.

Re:Laws just hamper the law abiding

[geckipede]

I would really like to see (preferably from a safe distance) that approach tried in a large city, but only because years of action films have desensetised me to violence and I think it would be hilarious.

Re:Laws just hamper the law abiding

[Hal_Porter]

The murder rate will go up by a few hundred percent for a few decades. After that it will drop down. Essentially evolution will select people with good impulse control and self discipline, which in the long run will lead to a more civilised society.

You wouldn't have the charts full of rap, numetal and emo for a start.