Can 'Can Spam' bill can spam?

In a unanimous vote, the US Senate has voted to put its foot down with spam with a raft of measures designed to discourage companies from sending out unsolicited bulk mail.

The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing bill, passed today, means US citizens will now be able to put themselves down on a so-called 'do not spam' register to be overseen by the Federal Trade Commission, similar to the 'do not call' register it set up earlier this year.

Sending unsolicited mail to the addresses on the register would be illegal under the Bill, but spammers and legitimate marketers alike could send mail to all email addresses that aren't included on the list until advised to stop.

Spammers will also have to include a return email address so that individual recipients can turn down the offers of generic Viagra in person.

The Senate will aim to deter spammers with the threat of a jail sentence and hefty fines which could run into millions of dollars, with even harsher penalties for spammers who use software to generate email addresses or harvest them from the internet, while US authorities and ISPs will be charged with tracking down the spammers themselves. The bill could authorise rewards for those who help to track down particularly elusive spammers.

The tricks that spammers use to weasel their emails into inboxes and get unsuspecting users to open them are also being restricted under the so-called Can Spam bill. The practice of misleading subject lines will be outlawed, as will disguising the sender's identity or hiding the pornographic content of emails, which the Senate hopes will allow recipients to filter them more effectively. Or just allow porn fans to open them quicker, perhaps.

While the UK government has already put in place anti-spam legislation, attempts to do similarly over the pond had been foiled by political wrangling.

While several states in the US have their own particular legislation in place to curb spam, the Can Spam bill looks to be the first nationwide measure to pass into law. A blanket ban on sending out unsolicited bulk email would, however, be illegal under the First Amendment.

How effective the Can Spam bill will be in the event it becomes law remains to be seen. It's thought the prospect of a 'do not spam' registry – potentially full of millions of email addresses – may actually prove a too much of a temptation for spammers, many of whom live overseas and so won't fall under the law's jurisdiction.

Senator Max Baucus, who, along with senator Ron Wyden, championed the bill, said in a statement: "The Senate took an important first step toward curbing spam and penalising those who abuse the internet. While our actions will not eliminate spam entirely, it puts the most egregious spammers on notice that we will not tolerate their actions anymore."

The bill came as a result of public pressure, said Burns, but the senator has also received support from ISPs including AOL and Microsoft. If the legislative process runs smoothly, the bill could become law by the end of the year.