After the day of 1^st January 2004, when the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN SPAM Act) became law in the United States, many disapproving voices irised up.

Very soon (probably within days) the law was informally reffered to as 'You CAN SPAM Act'. CAN SPAM Act became law just in time to shut off California's most powerful (up to the moment) anti spam law in US. And only to increase your disappointment, I invite you to read an initial bill for what is today CAN SPAM law, coming from Representative Gary Miller of California.

Far from being precipitous or exaggerated, many Internet users suggested that an efficient anti spam law should be rather opt-in than opt-out.

Practically, CAN SPAM Act legalizes unsolicited commercial email that comes in with a true unsubcription option. Apart from the fact that you never know if the opt-out link is bogus or not, it is rather ironic you have to follow the steps that the spammer is kind enough to indicate in order to get rid of the unwelcome emails.

The number of small businesses in the United States is being estimated roughly around 23 million. Many Internet users already did the aftermath: if all 23 million managers should decide one day to send unsolicited commercial email to me or you, how would that feel? Would we even have the rest to think about unsubscribing before our server is down? Indeed, the situation looks brighter if we'd get one unsolicited email from all the 23 million business man, but through the year. We'd only have to unsubscribe an average of 63,000 messages a day.

But let's not be mean. The spammers also, are living difficult times. Let's see what this spam law is putting them through:

• They can't hide their identity in the From field;
• Can't lie about the topic of the message in the Subject line
• They are meant to specify they are sending an advertising/commercial message;
• If the message is pornographic, be sure they have to announce you in the Subject line, too;
• They also have to use an opt-out link in the message body, and it can't be bogus;
• They must include their physical address where you can contact them and ask them please, please not to send any more unsolicited email.

If they fail to respect these rules, they risk fines ranging from $250 to $6 million.

But what if they actually don't?