Lex 8256: The Law in Cyberspace Seminar

Regulation of spam

    It helps to start with a little background on what the problem is. Check out http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A17754-2003Mar12 for a brief overview of why spam is becoming a serious problem. Also, take a look at http://www.cluelessmailers.org/spamdemic/mapfullsize.html for some links to a few graphical representations of the spam problem.  Careful; it's a big picture, and if you have a slower connection, you may want to select one of the smaller pictures.

    But what can be done, if anything? Check out http://www.spamlaws.com and check out what a few states have done to combat the spam problem. Have they been successful? Notice many omissions on the list?

    For a different analysis of the spam problem, go to Lexis and pull up 110 Yale L.J. 785 (2001) and read enough to get the gist of the article. Does the reasoning convince you? Now, take a look at State v. Heckel, available at http://www.spamlaws.com/cases/heckel.html.  The court seems to have had a much different take.

    Microsoft has proffered a solution as well. Read this short news story at http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=575&ncid=738&e=4&u=/nm/20030325/wr_nm/tech_microsoft_spam_dc to see how Microsoft is fighting the battle, at least as far as Hotmail is concerned.

    Also, take a look at http://www.linxnet.com/misc/spam/mi_spamsuit.html for an example on how creativity can garner results.

    Unfortunately, all these cases have done little to actually combat spam.  So where does the solution lie?

    In my opinion, right here:  http://paulgraham.com/spam.html.  Read it and come prepared with your ideas on the subject.