FUDBusters: ITU Claims Spam Defeated in 2 Years

FUDBust: Spam may be invasive and abhorrent, but you've got to admit that it works. For nearly nothing, spammers can send their unsolicited commercial messages to vast numbers of e-mail users. Only a tiny fraction of the recipients reply, but that's enough to keep the spammers rolling in dough. So they're not about to surrender without a fight.

Even if the ITU develops a viable antispam initiative in two years--which would be something of a miracle, considering that this same organization took more than a decade to develop the OSI model--spammers will find ways to work through, around and under it. Postal regulations haven't stopped junk mail nor has the "Do Not Call" list killed telemarketing. A two-year deadline is unrealistic, if not blatantly naive. If you're deploying antispam technology, don't let any of the ITU's comments slow you down.