AP: FTC says government must act on spam problem

AP: Congress moving to combat spam e-mail

DM News: FTC Panelists: Federal Spam Law Needed

Washington Post: Spam and a Case of Dyspepsia

AtNY: DMCA vs. Spam

NYT: Finding Solution to Secret World of Spam

Christian Science Monitor: Internet service providers join forces against spam

CNET: Want to stop spammers? Charge 'em

BizWeek: The Growing Crusade to Slam Spam

MediaPost: What's The Beef on Spam?

WSJ (subscription required): Surving the Flood (special section on spam)

In case you missed it, last week some 400 civil servants, legislators, lawyers, ISPs, technologiests, anti-spammers, and, remarkably, spammers, gathered in Washington DC for a forum on unsolicited commercial email organized by the Federal Trade Commission. The meeting was chaired by the FTC's ironically named commissioner, Orson Swindle, who had to break up a near fist fight between two panelists. The Direct Marketing Association's president Robert Wientzen was booed and hissed by the audience for his apologetic stance on commercial email. Much fun was had by all, although not much was decided, as far as I can tell, other than "spam is bad." They couldn't even agree on a definition of the problem. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Reminds me of something amusingly a guy mentioned to me at an industry event the other day, but it's a bit naughty, so you have to click "MORE" below to read it

I was just chatting with a guy at an industry event the other day who has been a East Coast VP of ad sales at several high profile online media properities (but who shall remain nameless for his sake) who said, "You'd think from reading my email In Box there was a national epidemic of tiny penises. They say, 'Do you want a 9 inch penis?' I'm thinking, why would I want to cut off three inches? I forward all of these to one of my sales guys and write 'I think this must be meant for you.'"

;-)