When are anti-spam activists going to admit that the Can Spam Act works? Never, of course. They like to call it the You Can Spam Act.
But as the years go by and the U.S. federal anti-spam law gets put into play time and time again, they just look increasingly willfully ignorant.
Last week, the Can Spam Act was leveraged in one high-profile court cases and one Federal Trade Commission settlement. This week, the Can Spam Act is in play in another high-profile court case—bringing the total to, oh, like a hundred times the much-derided anti-spam law has been used for its intended purpose.
Example No. 1: Adam Vitale last week was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay AOL $187,000 in restitution for spamming its subscribers. Vitale last year pleaded guilty to violating the … drum roll, please … Can Spam Act.
No. 2: Robert Soloway—who is expected to be sentenced today—in March pleaded guilty to a bunch of charges related to his spamming operation. Though it wasn’t the only law put into play, guess which U.S. law was among those he pled guilty to breaking. Anyone? Anyone? Why, exactly! The Can Spam Act. He was forging “from” lines, among other things.
No 3: The FTC last week announced it had settled with some weight-loss product marketers for $29,000. What law were they accused of violating? Why, the Can Spam Act.
Anti-spam activists and others are forever saying the Can Spam Act is a failure because the level of spam being sent across the Internet has risen—pretty dramatically, to be fair—since the law was passed.
But this line of reasoning is akin to saying: “I put my umbrella up. It has begun raining harder. Therefore, my umbrella doesn’t work.”
As is the case with Can Spam, the umbrella is performing its intended function just fine. No one puts their umbrella up thinking it will stop rain from falling. Similarly, no thinking person would ever believe any law or combination of laws would stop spam from being sent.
But we can, and did, enact a law that helps federal law enforcement go after the bad guys.
It’s difficult to tell how many times the Can Spam Act has been leveraged—mostly by the FTC in forcing settlements—since it was passed in 2004, but the figure is safely around 100.
I defy anyone reading this to point to any spam-related law anywhere in the world that has been used as many times and as successfully as Can Spam.
Hint: There isn’t one. Anti-spam activists would go a long way toward bolstering their credibility by simply admitting it.
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