Find out what anti-spam bills are being considered by Congress and discover what you can do to fight spam.

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Right now, there are a number of anti-spam bills pending in congressional committees. The bills are gradually being hammered down to the same elements:

  • To stop getting spam, you must ask each individual spam sender to stop after receiving unwanted email from them.
  • Senders are not supposed to lie about their email addresses.
  • Rules would be enforced by government agencies -- the Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general, etc. -- or possibly by Internet service providers.


And that's about it. Some bills include minor additions: Senders can't use someone else's email address, or must label their email advertisements. One bill would require pornographic spam to be labeled as such.

What's wrong with this? Well, it's what we call the "one bite of the apple" problem. Every possible sender gets one bite of your apple, one chance to send you an email. No big deal, you say? Well, maybe... and then maybe not. After all, an awful lot depends on how many spam senders exist, and how many of them decide to send you something.

Let's divide the spam senders into two types, legitimate businesses and scammers.

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