Do-Not-Call Does, Can Spam Can’t

Hiawatha Bray reviews the success of the national do-not-call registry
and the Can Spam Act. While 74% of the folks who got on the no telemarketing
list report a decrease in unsolicited sales calls, 71% say the deluge
of junk email continues unabated, or has increased.

Jennifer O’Shea, press secretary for Senator Conrad Burns, a Montana
Republican and a sponsor of the antispam law, said the law will begin
to work once the FTC starts suing spammers. "It does take time for
cases to be taken up and for people to be prosecuted," O’Shea
said.

But the FTC official in charge of enforcing the law took a much dimmer
view. "This law provides some tools that we hope will be helpful," said
Howard Beales, director of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection, "but
it’s not going to make a major difference."

from the
Boston Globe