Toward a Less Cluttered In-Box

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has just released a timely report on spam by Hanah Metchis and Solveig Singleton. The pun in the title, which requires you to pronounce ISP as "isp" instead of "I-S-P," does not quite work, but their recommendations seem sensible, if unexciting. Metchis and Singleton advocate a multifaceted approach that includes filtering software at the consumer end, measures by ISPs, and more vigorous law enforcement. They acknowledge that the spam problem has gone beyond a minor nuisance and see a role for government but caution against overbroad legislation and unreasonable expectations about what the law can accomplish.