Michael Gracie 

Are you sitting down? If not, please do, as we don’t need anyone passing out and hitting their head. Ready?

Venkat Balasubramani over at Spam Notes posted a nice summary of the recent 4th Circuit Court decision in the Mark Mumma anti-spam case.
In brief:
The court also rejected the underlying CAN-SPAM claims. The decision is important for one simple reason: anti-spam lawyers (and plaintiffs) often advance the exact arguments advanced by the plaintiff in [...]

Nor find those ex-KGB agents.
Sophos just released it’s ‘dirty dozen’ spam relaying countries list, and the US still tops the charts.
Despite CAN-SPAM, which has produced arrests and fines, it seems it’s the average broadband connected internet user which is contributing to the lead. The culprit, botnets, and the puppet masters (according to Sophos), Russians.
I [...]

Someone asked the question:
Didn’t Congress pass a law that was supposed to stop spam? Why am I receiving so much of it?
Shouldn’t someone ask Congress? Or corporate America?

It is hard to tell how effective spam laws are, as you don’t hear much about prosecutions for their violation. I suspect the reason is that such events are few and far between. Case in point: Australia just nailed the first spammer under their law – one that has been in place for [...]

The FTC has recently come out with a very long report detailing how CAN-SPAM is working. Brian McWilliams pointed out that while they interviewed numerous people for the work, including folks at the Direct Marketing Association, they forgot to talk to Steve Linford over at Spamhaus.
While this is not a particularly strange omission (as [...]

Of course, you didn’t hear it here first, but the FTC recently completed a study that says CAN-SPAM isn’t working like it should. Furthermore, they concluded that requiring the addition of labels such as “ADV” to subject lines wouldn’t help either, as only legitimate email marketers would be likely to comply.
I don’t know how [...]

The world has spoken, and the US Government could be listening (but I doubt it). The Federal Trade Commission has proposed several changes to CAN-SPAM, some of which is simple adminstrative malarkey, and all of which is subject to review, comment, and approval.
Some “unlikely” folks have already cast their votes.

Diet patch seller Phoenix Avatar settled charges from the Federal Trade Commission that it violated CAN-SPAM and the FTC Act. The consequences, however, would lead any spammer to believe that CAN-SPAM violations are a bit of a joke.

You ask yourself the question “Does CAN-SPAM Hurt Email Marketers?” and you are likely to hear a variety of opinions. But one thing is for certain, spammers do. CAN-SPAM, whether it is a leqislative knee-jerk reaction to the core issue and/or an actual hindrance to legitimate campaigns, did not pop up out of [...]