the FTC formally abandoned the idea of setting up a Do-Not-Spam list similar to the popular Do-Not-Call list. Critics of the proposal, which was pretty much everyone except for a band of politicians looking for press time, said that such a list would be disasterous, tantamount to a national list of valid email addresses that spammers would concentrate on. In short, signing up for the proposed list would be a sure way to get yourself a avalanche of spam.
The FTC correctly concluded that the Internet is very much a different beast from the telephone network, doh! Senator Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the leading supporter in Congress for a no-spam registry, said the FTC's decision was disappointing. "The registry is not the perfect solution but it is the best solution we have." No, a spam list is a monumentally stupid idea, why can't officials just admit 'hey, in retrospect, it's not such a good idea," rather than suggesting that a concept full of faults is the best solution because it's the only one he/she thought of?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/06/15/national1423EDT0619.DTL
PS- I think the most effective way to eliminate spam would be to put a microtax on every piece of email, I'd pay a quarter cent to send an email if it meant that the amount of spam I received would go to zero, wouldn't you?
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