Slippery Slope or Terra Firma? Current and Future Anti-Spam Measures

A short time ago, it would have been unthinkable that electronic mail or 'email' would have grown as popular as it has over the last few years but many corporations now consider it to be their primary means of communication. Consumers feel the same way with the advent of email enabled PDA's phones and pagers as well as Internet mail which is accessible just about anywhere from the home office library or even Internet cafes. With this growth in popularity marketers have realized the potential of reaching millions of consumers at a fraction of the cost for printed material radio or television. Thus this new kind of marketing has been given the moniker of the famous canned ham SPAM(R) for its being readily available all over the world and considered to be made up of just about every part of a pig. Since most of 'spam' is unwanted mail many technology companies network administrators and politicians have taken up the fight against its widespread use and abuse. This paper will help to explain current methods that are used to send out spam combat spam and legislation in place to hold abusers accountable and will also take a look at what might be on the technology horizon with more robust filtering methods and perhaps a better SMTP standard.