Junk E Mail example essay topic

Ban on Spam? Since the early days of the Internet with it's slow connections, to today's high tech version that plays a major function in everyday business, most advancements have been positive ones. Unfortunately one advancement that has not is Junk E-mail. These junk e-mails, (also known as "Spam") can be described as useless messages are plaguing our Internet Service Providers (ISP) mail systems.

The result of this is slower connections, a loss of time and of money. Therefore, in this work we will explore effects of Spam, (negative and positive) and will even decide if it is possible to make this practice an illegal one, even with the protection of our Constitutional First Amendment rights The question of whether or not junk emails could actually be made illegal does not have a short or easy answer. Yes it is true that these mails slow down many ISP servers by the massive amount of traffic they create, but do they really cause that much of a problem? Years before many of the current telemarketing laws were passed, companies could call whenever they felt that people were home, and attempted to pass on a good (and many times bad) deal to the consumer. This resulted in calls ranging from the early morning, to dinnertime, and lasting until the late hours of the evening.

Now clearly this was a problem that needed to be alleviated. In contrast to the ring of each telephone throughout a person's home, an E-mail box simply shows that a mail has been sent. In this case of E-mails, users can simply click on their delete button and the mail would be no more, that's it. This gives companies who use Spam as a commercial tool a valid point.

In addition, they also have a friend called the First Amendment on their side. The 1st amendment is thus far most likely the reason that Spam has not been made illegal, or controlled by the Federal government. Clearly stating that, "Congress shall make no law... prohibiting the freedom of speech, or of the press... ". law makers are desperately attempting to find a loophole to gaining legal action against Spam. Despite the opposition of some free-speech advocates, the legislation is creeping closer to the House floor.

Now for such legislation to be put into law, a bill would have to be proposed in the House of Representatives. A committee would devise a Bill and once debaters of both sides finished their arguments, a vote would take place. If the Bill were fortunate enough to pass the House, it would be travel on to a Senate committee. If these representatives felt that no changes need be made, a second vote would take place.

When the Bill received a majority vote in favor, it would then be sent to the Executive branch (or President) for his approval. If and when this Bill receives an approval, it then changes into a law. In order to successfully pass legislation to curb spam, lawmakers would have to show evidence that clearly describe how these mails hinder the Internet world. Thankfully, there is much proof to show how costly it is in the aspects of time and money. In 1999, the average consumer received 40 pieces of Spam. By 2005, the total is likely to soar to 1,600.

America Online (AOL) estimates that Spam already accounts for more than 30 percent of e-mail to its members and as many as 24 million messages a day. In addition, junk e-mail has been known to crash servers for many small ISP's; in which the volume of junk mail could range from 400,000 to 2 million mails a day. Besides from these arguments, Spam can be descried as just plain annoying and certainly uncalled for in many areas. Purely based on personal experience, I have come to expect at least fix or six of these mails in my own mailing address everyday. Yes, it does not bother me that much, but I'm sure parents of the world certainly do not appreciate companies sending there ten year old boys and girls advertisements for such sites like adult nudity. These e-mails alone are many times filled with language that many adults would even find highly offensive.

The main opposition to ending junk e-mails is obviously the corporations of America, but importantly the interest groups that they create. To these groups such as the NRA, (National Rifle Association), and the Chamber of Commerce, the Internet must remain a free market for the exchange of products and trade. It is true that if a person does not want certain e-mails, they should be able to be removed from email lists upon request. But by placing a limit towards any business from contacting customers with products or services is unfair. They feel that by only counting on people to locate their website would result in a certain demise. With the thousands of sites on the Internet, business owners must be allowed to call attention to their sites through the use of e-mail.

If a person receives e-mail from an unrecognized source it is just as easy to delete it unread, as it is to throw away mail sent through the United States Postal Service. It should be obvious to all that the winners will be businesses in favor of junk mail. Some laws might curb the amounts of mail that can be sent to certain groups of people, but Spam will be around as long as the Internet is. Over 71% of elected officials in America have even stated they are more interested with the needs of the Lobbyists, and not the people that they have been elected by. Interest groups posses budgets that reach high into billions of dollars, and will convince lawmakers that junk mail is a part of free speech. Stating that these mails are annoying and destructive is the same as saying television commercials should be ended considering it inhibits the viewing of people's favorite shows.

Constant pressing of the delete key upon opening your mailbox is just something that citizens of the world will unfortunately just have to get used to.