Spam has become a topic of public debate over the last few months on Capitol Hill. Consumers and e-mail marketers are thrashing out issues to find common ground. Often at the center of that debate is Eileen Harrington, associate director of the marketing practices division for the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission, the agency that attacks deceptive marketing. Harrington’s wit and take-no-prisoners style, which she displayed as moderator at an FTC forum on the issue, has made her the face of the debate, an anti-spam maven intent on finding an equitable solution to the problem. Direct tapped her thoughts on how to halt spam.
Direct: Would a do-not-e-mail list, like the one Sen. Charles Schumer has proposed, be an effective means of stopping spam?
Eileen Harrington: This is a very complicated matter. First, there are questions about technological feasibility, including the security of such a database. Second, there are questions about the enforcement of any law requiring marketers to adhere to a
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