Four top Internet service providers filed lawsuits this weekagainst hundreds of spammers in an effort to stem the growingdeluge of unsolicited e-mail clogging the Web.
Yahoo, Earthlink, Microsoft and America Online are using the newCan-Spam Act, passed into law Jan. 1, as the basis for theirlawsuits.
The law prohibits spammers from using false return e-mailaddresses, requires marketers to get permission from consumersbefore sending them e-mail and allows receivers to opt out ofreceiving future e-mails.
Representatives from the ISPs, which are among the firstcompanies to take advantage of the law, said in a written statementthat they worked together and shared data to get information aboutthe largest spammers.
Although the new law will likely decrease the amount of spammillions of Americans receive, it will not affect the spamquantities for University of Memphis mail users, U of M Internetdevelopment officials said. That's because The U of M has its ownserver and spam prevention methods, said U of M Internet developerTom Zeller.
"We run spam filter software that deletes spam," Zeller said,adding that the filter does not prevent anyone from getting anye-mail they want.
However, that isn't to say that spam isn't a problem for The Uof M. It takes a lot of resources to filter that spam.
"It's fair to say over half of the e-mail we receive is spam,"which is a financial hassle, Zeller said
Laytee Dwanyen, Internet journalism major, said her biggest petpeeve with spam is that every time she registers with various Websites, those companies send her e-mail address on to others.
"I signed up at the Web site for the Commercial Appeal andreceived all this e-mail from their affiliates," Dwanyen said.
A study by Ferris Research determined that companies lostapproximately $10 billion in productivity and increased usage of ITresources in 2003 because of spam.
Zeller, who estimated that 4,000 pieces of spam pour into The Uof M's two servers every hour, said he wasn't surprised by thestudy's findings.
"We've had to buy additional software to fight spam, and ittakes more time for our staff to deal with it," Zeller said.
