In December of 2003, then-president George W. Bush signed into effect the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 in response to growing concerns over the amount of internet spam. CAN-SPAM, which stands for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing, is the United States’ first set of standards placed on e-mails in an attempt to curb unsolicited commercial e-mail and find an effective anti spam solution. For some, however, the law comes up short. Those who criticize the bill refer to it as the YOU-CAN-SPAM Act, because of some enormous loopholes involved that still allow spammers to operate in the United States today.

#1: This bill does not require marketers to seek permission from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) before sending out bulk e-mail messages.

#2: The entire bill relies on the Federal Trade Commission to enforce the new laws, but for the most part there has been very few legal cases citing the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. In recent years they have become more vigilant, though little process has been made.

#3: Under this new set of laws, individual states are unable to enact tougher spam laws on their own behalf – several of which have already tried to do so.

#4: Regular computer users who receive spam in their personal inbox are actually unable to sue spammers, according to the act.

#5: Spammers are actually permitted to send email spam as long as it abides by 3 quite simple rules. While these rules have eliminated a small portion of spam being sent, most spammers have been able to modify their messages enough to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.