Why are businesses concerned about Spam?
Unsolicited, unwarranted advertisements threaten to clog up employees' inboxes. The fear is that Internet mail may begin to resemble ordinary mail or "snail mail." For every one pertinent message, three advertisements may demand human resource time and energy to throw away.

The bottom line: Spam costs businesses money. You incur costs because it takes up valuable time and resources to sort through. You also pay to receive spam through telephone connection fees.

At least eight states are considering anti-spam laws but no laws banning spam currently exist. Here are three anti-spam Web sites that can help you increase productivity by eliminating spam from your workplace.

Aristotle
Aristotle, "Your Official Intelligent Mailbox" offers a way to remove your name and personal information from direct marketing lists (www.aristotle.org). This service is for registered voters only and there is no charge. Aristotle offers voters the opportunity to be paid to receive political and commercial messages electronically, and to ask that their names be removed from many "junk" email lists (yes, they do have their own motivations). They specialize in software for political candidates and elected officials and sell public record voter information for political uses.

Registered voters who sign up to accept emails at Aristotle will be credited a portion of the savings in postage and printing realized by the sender. You will be notified at your other email addresses when you have mail waiting for you at Aristotle. When your credits reach $100, you will be sent a check.

When you first sign in, you will have the option of being removed from junk mail, telemarketing and Email lists such as Cyber Promotions. However, close to election time, it may be a matter of simply choosing political spam over regular commercials.

The Anti Spam Site
This spam-colored site (www.ftech.net/~monark/spam/index.hts) also offers great information and good advice. Their General Points offer excellent step-by step instructions for how to proceed in dealing with unwanted spam. These tips include; NEVER, purchase anything from a spammed commercial mail. If you complain about receiving spam, do so politely in writing and always retain a copy for your records. More useful tips and helpful links reside on this page.

Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email
CAUCE (www.cauce.org) promotes an amendment to 47 USC 227, the law that makes it illegal to transmit so-called "junk faxes," so that it will include "junk email." You may show your support for the bill by adding your signature on this site. The more names they retain the more fuel for spam to be outlawed.

Early July 1997, the Clinton Administration announced a hands-off policy in terms of commerce and trade for the Internet. In a White House policy paper entitled "A Framework for Global Electronic Commerce," adviser Ira Magaziner announced that governments should refrain from imposing new and unnecessary regulations, bureaucratic procedures, or taxes on commercial activities conducted over the Internet. It remains to be seen how this will effect laws prohibiting spam.

Companies lured by the low cost of sending Spam -Beware!
Sending bulk email is currently the least expensive way to advertise. However, those that sell bulk email lists can only offer unqualified groups of email. These lists, though large in number, often have low response rates because the advertisements are sent to an un-targeted group of people.

It remains to be seen if email will become the medium of choice for advertisements in the future or if it will be outlawed completely. In the meantime, companies seduced by the relatively low costs of sending spam need to keep in mind that recipients must be qualified in order for an advertising campaign to be successful.