This week the FTC released a 116 page report to Congress about the effectiveness of the CAN SPAM Act.  As a participant in the interviews the FTC performed to compile the report, I am disappointed in the rosy picture painted in this document.  My interpretation of this report is that the spam problem is subsiding and the CAN SPAM Act has assisted in this success. 

While I acknowledge that spam filtration is getting better and consumers are becoming less frustrated by spam (a person can come to accept most any pain when exposed to enough of it), I fear this report sends the wrong message to Congress.  The reality is that there are serious flaws in CAN SPAM that need to be addressed.  In addition, despite major cries for additional enforcement by industry, including the DMA, there was no indication of this need by the FTC in this report.

As LashBack has seen first hand, Congress is largely uneducated about the spam problem.  Thus, the likely result of this report will be that Congress interprets the law as a complete success and will do nothing to increase enforcement spending or efforts to improve the law.