The abundance of e-mail spam continues to plague AU, as well as many other residents along the Information Superhighway, but now, with the help of a new law, Internet Service Providers can take illegal spammers to court. The CAN SPAM Act was passed in December and allows those sending spam to be sued for up to $1 million in damages.
Since AU provides the Internet to its students, the University also has the right to take spammers to court, but currently has taken no legal action. Microsoft, Yahoo, America Online and Earthlink have all filed suit under the law, and more legal action seem likely.
Although many of us may get hundreds of spam messages each day, it is not yet a problem on the AU Web mail system. E-operations has endeavored to make our mail spam-free, but a couple messages are still getting through here and there. Many students may be unhappy with the amount of spam they receive, but most of the time spam e-mails are caused by their Internet activities.
Since this is not a major problem here, the University should hold off before taking advantage of this new law. If AU were to sue, the school could receive as much as $250 per e-mail, and up to $2 million total. There may be a large amount of publicity to be the first university to take a spammer to court, but this does not mean that AU should be that school.
The Eagle hates all the offers for male enhancement and car loans as much as everyone else, and we can only hope this law will cut down on the spam once and for all.
