This is a somewhat official update on the other war: the war on spam. Like the other war, this one is global and asymmetrical in nature and involves spying. Just for the record, we’re winning this one, too! Whoopee!
“We’re using technology and teamwork in the battle against illegal spam,” said Lydia Parnes, director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Taken together, they are helping us combat the outlaw spammers who disregard laws designed to prevent fraud and protect consumers’ rights.”
Last week’s FTC pronouncement accompanied a report to Congress analyzing the effectiveness and enforcement of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. At the outset, the FTC said there are two positive consequences of the CAN-SPAM Act. First, the mandate for commercial e-mail best practices is being adhered to by legitimate cyberspace marketers. The second has been enforcement, with more than 50 lawsuits brought so far by the FTC and others.
Well OK, then what’s all this junk in my computer mailbox, and what about these stories on mobile-phone spam.
Verizon Wireless recently won permanent injunctions to stop two telemarketing firms-Intelligent Alternatives of San Diego, Calif., and Resort Marketing Trends of Coral Springs, Fla.-from making illegal sales calls to Verizon Wireless cell-phone customers. Verizon Wireless said the lawsuits were the first of their kind initiated by a U.S. mobile-phone operator to protect subscribers from illegal telemarketing. Most likely they will not be the last.
Just days after the Verizon Wireless court victory, the National Association of Securities Dealers issued an investor alert tipping investors off to a new version of a pump-and-dump scheme that has infiltrated investors’ mobile phones.
“The emergence of text messaging offers fraudsters another cheap and easy way to reach large numbers of potential investors,” said John Gannon, NASD vice president for investor education. “Now, more than ever, investors need to be vigilant about doing their homework before investing and taking the necessary steps to reduce the likelihood of falling prey to these scams.”
Do wireless devices defy the FTC’s ability to defeat those scurrilous spammers under the CAN-SPAM Act?
“[T]he commission concludes that while more consumers are accessing their e-mail from mobile devices today than when CAN-SPAM was enacted, the protections afforded by CAN-SPAM currently are not diminished when e-mail is viewed from a handheld device,” said the FTC. Thus, the agency is not recommending any legislative changes to the CAN-SPAM Act. Perhaps then the FTC knows of a good filter that works.
