We all hate spam. Now, our legislators are finally starting to get into the act and we need to take a look at some of the Bills that they are writing and debating on our behalf.

Of particular concern is the wide divergence of state and local anti-spam laws that create a patchwork for which there is great question over jurisdiction. First, because of the Interstate Commerce Clause in the US Constitution, that clearly give Congress the right to regulate commerce between the States, and then because of jurisdictional issues.

Here are a number of resources I have found on the web for gathering information about the anti-spam work being done:

CAUCE, The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email has a set of affiliates in the EU, Australia, India and Canada as well as comments on their site about pending legislation.Today they have an article proposing that the pending CAN-SPAM bill.

The article in yesterday's Washington Post tells the tale of some weak anti-SPAM legislation that is pending in the House. The bill doesn't provide adequate opportunity for individual action.

I'll post some comments on my theory of the best way to prevent SPAM in the near future, but it involves the ability to "white list" and "black list" certain kinds of messages and providing legal redress for those whose systems are forced to carry unwanted spam.