Perhaps the most interesting thing about the recent grand “anti-spam” event hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is that nothing of interest happened.

Billed as an effort to “get everybody in one room and lock the doors until they come up with a solution,” the three-day conference instead degenerated into a country carnival, complete with barkers, wild rides and pickpockets.

Nonetheless, a few points about the problem of spam have become clearer. Chief among these:

• It is perfectly legal to send unsolicited commercial e-mail. If our in-boxes are to be stopped from overflowing with everything from ads for generic Viagra to mortgage quotes, then a law of some kind needs to be passed making spamming illegal — or at least outlawing spam that contains false information.
• The spam problem is growing because believe it or not, spam actually works. According to Robert Wientzen of the Direct Marketing Association, 37 percent of Americans have responded to a spam ad — a much higher rate of return than direct snail mail. As much as we may hate it spam, it sells things because it is easier to respond to.
• None of the existing schemes for reducing or eliminating spam will do the job. If they could, the problem would be gone already.
• It is unlikely spam will ever be completely eliminated. Much of what takes place on the Internet is actual commerce and receiving some junk e-mail is probably the price of convenience. But that is not to say some steps can’t be taken to reduce the flow as much as possible. These four simple steps would go a long way in achieving that goal.
• Pass a national law making it illegal to send e-mail that contains false or misleading header information or that contains an invalid opt-out mechanism. The law is ready for a vote in Congress but has failed in the past two years while special-interest groups argue over small details in an attempt to delay passage. The Wyden-Burns “CAN-Spam Act” once enacted would be a national law enforced by the FTC which has both the resources and the desire to handle the job. The problem with the 26 state spam laws already on the books is that they are either poorly written or like Washington’s, poorly enforced. In addition, a national law will provide an incentive for our international trading partners to negotiate similar laws around the world. We can’t do that with state laws.
• Encourage the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) — the folks who manage Internet address — to de-register any domain for which false contact information has been provided. Like with the U.S. Mail, Internet users should have the right to know who is spamming them, and to voice their displeasure if necessary.
• Educate Internet users not to respond to spam — not even in an effort to get off a mailing list. A response to spam of any kind is simply verification that the e-mail address is valid — inviting more spam. If the financial incentive for sending spam is gone, so will be the spam.
• Improve anti-spam technologies. Most of the efforts in this arena to date have been pathetic. At a time where we can sort millions of messages in a nanosecond to identify key phrases, we should be able to block messages in Mandarin Chinese.

   The FTC conference on spam did not begin to resolve the problem, but there is much that can and should be done to reduce the flow of spam before it is completely out of control. And it starts with federal legislation.