Labels required on sexually explicit Internet spam

Labels required on sexually explicit Internet spam

Wednesday, May 19, 2004


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(05-19) 14:01 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

Sexually explicit Internet spam must now carry a warning label.

A Federal Trade Commission rule went into effect Wednesday requiring that unsolicited commercial e-mail that contains sexually oriented material include the words "SEXUALLY EXPLICIT" in the subject line.

The rule also bars graphic images from appearing in the opening body of the message. Instead, the recipient must take some action in order to see the objectionable material, either by scrolling down in the e-mail or by clicking on a provided link.

Jonathan Kraden, staff attorney with the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the label "should help the computers to filter if a computer user decides to set their filtering system up to recognize these two words."

more... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/05/19/national1701EDT0715.DTL&type=tech

Is this really going to do much good?

It's still as annoying as hell. This isn't going to help much unless we're dealing with our kids' e-mail and we have the appropriate bots/programs installed. Then again, aren't most spammers illegitimate as is? I doubt they will add that label.