Anti-spam laws unable to block mass junk e-mail

AUGUSTA – Ads for herbal Viagra and anatomy enhancers, low-interest loans and pornography continue to find their way to e-mail boxes in Maine despite laws intended to halt the deluge of unsolicited commercial e-mail, spam-filtering software companies and businesses say.

A federal law, Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, went into effect at the beginning of the year and overrides Maine’s own anti-spam law.

While the Federal Trade Commission receives about 300,000 spam complaints every day, no one has been charged with breaking the so-called CAN-SPAM law, which provides jail time and fines up to $2 million for violations.

Spam filtering companies Brightmail and Postini say the volume of unsolicited commercial e-mail for January is no lower than it was during the same month three years ago.

And the situation isn’t expected to improve in the next few years, says communications technology company Ferris Research. It forecasts that the average number of spam messages sent to North American businesses daily will increase by four times to as many as 40 a day by 2008.

Maine businesses say they’re fighting a losing battle with spammers.

Jim Lagasse, chief technology officer for Kennebec Savings Bank, said that of the 2,200 pieces of e-mail sent to the bank every day, 1,700 are spam, which averages out to 10 spam messages a day for each bank employee.

Anti-spam programs that filter out junk by flagging key words such as “loans” or “rates” are a problem for Kennebec Savings, which receives many personal e-mails from customers asking for bank loans or mortgage rates.

“There is a risk of losing mail and a legitimate message,” Lagasse said.

Melanie Baillargeon, communications director for the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said she gets so much spam that she knows which messages to click and drag from her inbox to the trash.

“There has been so much spam that I now know them by the titles,” said Baillargeon. “I recognize and throw them all away in five minutes. It’s bad really.”

The Christian Civic League of Maine finds that its own e-mail to its members get filtered out by anti-spam programs.

“It’s been extraordinarily frustrating to create an e-mail list that doesn’t create spam,” said Michael Heath, executive director of the league. “Using e-mail was a lot more effective a couple of years ago.”

Spammers are finding new ways to sneak e-mail through filters. They avoid anti-spam programs by creating programs using offbeat words to deliver X-rated material or get-rich-quick ads.

“The spammers always seem to be one step ahead in technology,” said Assistant Attorney General Linda Conti, whose office refers spam complaints to the FTC.