Spam Decision Applauded by Stephen Cobb, Privacy Expert and Dreva Hill Author:
Effect on Spam Volume May Be Limited

New York, NY -- January 24 - Yesterday's decision in the MonsterHut spam case brought by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was praised today by Stephen Cobb, a leading privacy expert and author of the recently published "Privacy for Business: Web Sites and Email." In the decision, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lottie E. Wilkins made it clear that deceptive claims about the "opt-in" basis of email are illegal (click here for more on the case).

"The court has done consumers a great service," says Cobb. However, he cautions that the ruling is unlikely to reduce spam volume, which already represents close to half of all email traffic. "A lot of spam is sent by people who are either outside U.S. jurisdiction or have little regard for U.S. law."

According to Cobb, laws and legal decisions will have little impact on spam until improvements in email technology enable compliance to be enforced. "I'm not referring to spam-filtering, helpful as that may be at the moment," says Cobb, "but technology that enables consumers to rely on the identity of email senders, and hold them accountable to some form of independent trust authority."

Cobb envisions a time when email users will only receive messages from friends, family, and organizations they trust. "Companies that provide Internet and email service, and organizations that make legitimate use of email, all have a tremendous incentive to elevate email to a new level; and technology can make that possible, without people having to share their personal information or preferences with anyone."

About Stephen Cobb

An established privacy and security expert who has advised many Global 1000 companies and U.S. government agencies such as the FTC, Stephen Cobb is Senior VP of Research and Education at ePrivacy Group (www.eprivacygroup.com). Stephen has been a Certified Information Systems Security Professional since 1996 and lives in Florida with wife Chey, author of "Network Security for Dummies."

About Privacy for Business(TM)

Privacy for Business(TM) books help companies deal with privacy issues. The first title in the series is "Privacy for Business: Web Sites and Email" (ISBN 972481907 / paperback / $24.95) now available from book stores through BookMasters or Ingram. Copies can ordered by phone (1 800-247-6553) also online at amazon.com, atlasbooks.com, and cobwebapplications.co.uk.

Contact: Dreva Hill
(212) 655-9392
publisher@drevahill.com
http://www.privacyforbusiness.com

SOURCE: Dreva Hill