No doubt about it.

"Spam" (unsolicited commercial email) threatens to

paralyze and ultimately destroy the email system as it

currently exists on the Internet.

Anyone with an email address can attest to the fact that

the avalanche of Spam has only increased in the last year

and shows no sign of stopping.

However, the current system many Internet Service

Providers (ISP's) use to deal with Spam may just destroy

the Internet's email system long before the spammers do.

Now, I won't deny that the weight of the Spam on any

ISP's resources can rate very significant.

It's been estimated that between 30-60% of all email now

sent is Spam!

This means that 30-60% and ISP's system resources

(bandwidth, hardware, and system maintenance) go towards

delivering messages nobody wants to receive.

Out of self-defense, many ISP's turn to third party

services like Spam Cop, SPEWS (Spam Prevention Early

Warning System), and SpamHaus to help them identify

sources of spam and block the messages before their email

systems get clogged.

No Trial - No Defense - Guilty!

In theory, it's a great system.

In practice, it creates a situation resembling a witch

hunt where the accused gets burned at the stake without a

trial, let alone the ability to face their accuser.

Here's how the system works.

Let's say a business habitually sends legitimate email to

its customers or prospects who asked to receive the

email.

As long as nobody complains, life proceeds as normal.

But then let's say one of those people forgets they opted

in to the business's email list and reports an email

message as spam to one of the services I mentioned above.

Result: the business gets blacklisted by one or more of

these services and ISP's in turn automatically block

email (legitimate email) sent by the business to its

customers and opt-in subscribers.

To make matters even worse, nobody at these anti-spam

services bothers to let the business know they've been

blacklisted.

When the business finally discovers their status and

tries to contact Spam Cop, SPEWS or SpamHaus, the real fun

begins.

If the business does discover which service(s)

blacklisted them, they'll find they can't call anyone on

the phone to discuss the problem.

They also discover these services are totally unregulated

and there is no higher court of appeals.

Any email responses from these services often contain a

smug attitude of assumed guilt that scoffs at your claims

of innocence.

Also, don't bother asking for the opportunity to face

your accuser in order to prove your innocence because

they get to hide behind a cloak of anonymity.

Combining this attitude of assumed guilt with the

inability to prove your innocence creates a recipe for

disaster for every legitimate business.

Oh, by the way, while writing this article, I received 19

spam email messages through an ISP monitored by all 3

anti-spam services.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

In the end, the current system only creates opportunity

for abuse that targets legitimate businesses while the

real spammers just merrily keep sending their flood of

email.