CAN-SPAM Law Violations Continue At High Rate for Second Month in a Row, According to Audiotrieve InBoxer Anti-spam Study.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

BOXBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 2004

CAN-SPAM, the law intended to reduce junk email, had little effect on the nation's email Inboxes for the second month in a row, according to a study conducted this weekend by Audiotrieve, the makers of InBoxer anti-spam filters (http://www.inboxer.com). More than 86 percent of the spam messages studied violated at least one aspect of the CAN-SPAM law and most violated almost all of the provisions. This performance is only a slight improvement over the 90 percent non-compliance rate found in the January InBoxer study.

"CAN-SPAM is failing to stop the plague of unwanted email messages. The violations are so blatant and pervasive that it appears that spammers are not worried about being caught," said Roger Matus, Chief Executive of Audiotrieve. "These ongoing spam attacks and recent outbreaks of new viruses like MyDoom, prove that companies and individuals still need to take strong measures to protect their email accounts."

Audiotrieve collected email messages using so-called "honey pot" accounts on February 6-8, 2004. Approximately 1,000 junk e-mail messages were analyzed to identify the compliant messages which contained an email address, relevant subject line, a physical address, and the unsubscribe information required by the law that went into effect on January 1. Honey-pot accounts are email accounts designed to attract spam, but are not in use by any individual. Therefore, messages sent to these accounts cannot be intended for a known person.

Only 143 of the 1040 messages analyzed contained the information required by CAN-SPAM. Audiotrieve did not try to verify that the required physical addresses were correct or whether taking the action required to unsubscribe would work. Therefore, the non-compliance rate could be even higher.

For the first time, CAN-SPAM compliance was used by some companies as a way to show that they are legitimate. Several of the compliant messages contained a colorful graphic with a phrase such as "We are fully compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003."

About Audiotrieve and InBoxer

Audiotrieve, LLC (www.audiotrieve.com, www.inboxer.com) makes email filters, including anti-spam filters, under the InBoxer brand. INBOXER is a trademark and AUDIOTRIEVE is a service mark of Audiotrieve, LLC. A 21 day free trial of InBoxer is available from http://www.inboxer.com. InBoxer costs $27.95.