Frazzled by Junk E-Mail?
By: Source: AARP Bulletin Today Date Posted: 2004-02-13 07:40:00-05:00
When Norma Leonard, a Washington mother and grandmother, checked her e-mail recently this is the first message she saw: "Your Nude Pictures Came Out Beautifully."
"I laughed and then I got furious," she says. "I get more spam than real e-mail and I'm sick of it."
Spam—irritating, embarrassing and often deceptive junk e-mail—bedevils American Internet users.
"It's really an invasion of my time and space," Leonard says. "Even at my age I have better things to do than sit there deleting spam."
And the problem is growing: In 2004, experts say, 60 percent of all e-mail will be spam—unsolicited commercial e-mail that frustrates consumers and costs businesses time and money. Indeed, "spam is costly for everyone but the spammers," says Sharon Hermanson, an analyst in AARP's Public Policy Institute.
Now, fresh from battling intrusive telemarketers and flush with the victory of the national Do Not Call Registry, Americans are taking on spammers. The first national anti-spam bill, dubbed "Can Spam," sailed through Congress and was signed into law by President Bush in December.
The new law requires spammers to identify adult material and carries substantial penalties for those who use phony greetings, fake sender addresses and fraudulent sales pitches.
When the law was signed, Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., who helped write the legislation, predicted that the worst of the "crippling congestion" caused by spam would soon end and said the measure would "bring peace of mind back to everyone who sends and receives e-mail."
But analysts—from federal officials to Internet legal experts and consumer groups—warn the law is only a first step: Don't expect to see spam vanish anytime soon.
At best, the law—which took effect Jan. 1—may help slow the increase in spam. At worst, some experts say, it could release a new tidal wave of spam from legitimate businesses eager to use mass e-mails to market their products. [See Faceoff: Do We Need a Stronger Federal Law to Curb Junk E-Mail?]
Internet legal expert David Sorkin of the John Marshall Law School in Chicago says the new law may curb the growth of really obnoxious spam—the shrill or raunchy offers for sex devices and the lowest mortgage rates.
But, he says, "It's a terrible law. Essentially it says you can spam people if you follow these rules." And it pre-empts state anti-spam laws, many of which are much tougher.
Chris Hoofnagle, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington consumer advocacy group, says the new law requires businesses to provide an "opt-out" choice for consumers who don't want their ads and offers. But, he says, "That could mean opting out of spam from hundreds, even thousands of legitimate companies."
The measure authorizes the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report on the feasibility of a Do Not Spam Registry similar to its wildly popular Do Not Call Registry.
FTC attorney Brian Huseman says pursuing spammers is "a top priority," but the agency has reservations about a Do Not Spam list. "With e-mail it's very easy to hide your identity," he says. A Do Not Spam list might be hard to enforce.
In the near future, then, some of the most effective anti-spam action will come from consumers themselves. [See the sidebar Five Ways to Cook Your Spam.]
It's "naïve" to think that Internet giveaways, contests and newsletters are there "as a service to humanity," says Paul Nute, a partner in SoHo Digital, a New York ad agency that represents online marketers. They are bait, he says, used by businesses to advertise or market to people. That means consumers need to be cautious and discreet when visiting sites.
AARP recently surveyed 1,018 people age 50 and older—some 33 million Americans in that age group use computers—who go on the Internet and found that 81 percent had made a purchase online. And anyone who has shopped online or clicked on a chance to win a million dollars may have agreed, unknowingly, "to receive valuable offers from our marketing partners."
Many websites have a prechecked box saying yes to those offers—and it is up to the visitor to find the box and uncheck it.
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