The Federal Trade Commission this month released Effectiveness and Enforcement of the CAN-SPAM Act, a Report to Congress "The CAN-SPAM Act has been effective in providing a roadmap for legitimate marketers to use in crafting their e-mail campaigns," concludes the report. "Compliance by legitimate online marketers is high ... and consumers and businesses benefit from having a set of best practices, articulated within the Act, adopted by legitimate e-mailers.

"The Act has also increased the ease or efficiency of enforcement against spammers," it continues. "Yet, while recent trends indicate a decrease in the amount of spam reaching consumers' inboxes, spam is increasingly becoming a vehicle for identity theft (through phishing) and for the delivery of viruses and other forms of malware, such as spyware. As Congress found when enacting CAN-SPAM, the spam problem cannot be solved by legislation alone; technological approaches and international cooperation are key. The Commission has actively prodded industry to deploy domain-level authentication, and it should be in place in the near future. Finally, passage of the US SAFE WEB Act would enhance the ability of the FTC to combat illegal spam sent internationally." KW