Tech experts say spammers are on the run

Anyone who's ever spent an hour sweeping perverted rubbish out of his e-mailbox might not expect to find much good cheer at a meeting of antispam experts. But lives spent elbow-deep in filth didn't damage the optimism of the antispam warriors who met at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology earlier this month. It's probably because they think they're winning. Huh? When's the last time these geeks checked their own e-mails? Despite a newly enacted federal antispam law, the CAN-SPAM Act, companies like Brightmail Inc. say there's no sign that spammers have even slightly reduced their output of illegal mailings.

Why the optimism, then? Because the experts think this is the year when a combination of software, e-mail infrastructure upgrades, and new laws will finally begin to make a difference.

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