Question:
What anti-spam laws exist?
Suing for Spam Damages
Some countries and U.S. states now have laws that outlaw spam and allow the recipient to sue for damages. If you, your ISP, the spammer or the spammer's ISP falls into the right jurisdictions, you may have a right to claim recompense -- i.e., money -- from spammers. This can be difficult; for one thing you need to find the spammer's postal address, and this can be difficult. But there are now several organizations and groups to help people who are interested in suing spammers. While this is a step in the right direction, you still should have spam email filters and spam blocker software.
Laws Against Spam Emails
The Texas state legislature passed a law in June 2003 requiring that unsolicited commercial e-mail messages include a label ("ADV:" or "ADV: ADULT ADVERTISEMENT") at the beginning of the subject line, and a functioning return e-mail address for opt-out requests, which must be honored. These unsolicited commercial email messages are also known as "spam." The law passes does not prevent spam from coming to your home computer but it does prohibit unsolicited commercial messages with falsified routing information. False, deceptive, or misleading subject lines are also prohibited in all spam e-mail messages, as is the unauthorized use of a third party's domain name. But since these messages can be sent from places without anti-spamming laws, you will still need spam email filters and spam blocker software for your email accounts.
The CAN-SPAM Law
A new anti-spam law was passed by the United States and went into effect on January 1, 2004. Sadly, this only prevents US companies from sending out spam without certain indicators. Under this new law, CAN-SPAM, marketers must remove customers from their lists when requested, they must provide automated opt-out methods as well as complete contact information (address and phone) with alternate means of removal. CAN-SPAM also bans common spamming practices such as false headers and email harvesting (the use of software that spiders websites to collect email addresses). Subject lines must be truthful and contain a notice that the message is an ad. By forcing commercial companies into these more honest practices, the efficiency of your spam filter will increase. You will still going to get unsoliceted spam from companies not govened by our laws, but the CAN-SPAM law is a good start.
Laws Against Spam
Spam is the subject of a number of state laws that form a different kind of “spam filter”. In September 2003, legislation was approved in California that made it the second state (after Delaware) to adopt an opt-in rule for e-mail advertising. Under this legislation, it is illegal to send unsolicited commercial e-mail from California or to a California e-mail address. The law applies to senders as well as to advertisers on whose behalf messages are sent. It also includes less restrictive rules from which the broad prohibition may be severed in the event that it is struck down as unconstitutional.
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