FTC: Most Spam At Least Partly False

from the well,-duh... dept

The FTC has spent some of their precious time analyzing all those spam emails people send them to work out that almost every spam they get has some false or misleading information. For most of us, this seems completely obvious. However, this is important due to the lack of any comprehensive anti-spam laws. Right now, realistically, the only way for the FTC to go after spammers is to get them on charges of false advertising or using misleading information. So, the fact that almost any spam can qualify means that they can go after almost any spammer. Of course, they don't have enough resources to go after very many spammers, but there is still some hope (naive as it may be) that if enough spammers get thrown in jail and/or fined severely, it will convince them to think twice about their chosen profession. In a somewhat related note, yesterday I received the first spam that I've seen that was actually labeled with a [spam] tag at the beginning of the subject line.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    thecaptain, 30 Apr 2003 @ 6:27am

    In other news...


    This just in....the sky is blue! And water..is wet. Film at 11.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.