Groups join to ban Spam. (Up front: news, trends & analysis).

Three prominent consumer groups in the United States have joined forces to petition the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue new rules that will dramatically reduce junk e-mail referred to as "spam." The Telecommunications and Research Action Center (TRAC), the National Consumers League (NCL), and Consumer Action will unveil a new tool that will enable fed-up e-mail users to send spam horror stories to the FTC in support of their petition to "Ban the Spam."

TRAC, NCL, and Consumer Action filed a petition with the FTC requesting that unsolicited commercial e-mail (commonly referred to as spam) be considered an unfair and deceptive trade practice that causes harm to consumers. The petition asks for a FTC rule that defines unsolicited commercial e-mail as "deceptive and therefore unlawful" if it

* misrepresents the sender (in source or routing information)

* misrepresents the subject or content of the e-mail

* fails to provide reliable contact information for the real party in interest

* fails to provide a reliable opt-out system

* is sent to an individual who has opted out or resigned from sender's list, or to whom sending unsolicited, commercial e-mail is otherwise prohibited by law

There is growing evidence of an increasingly out-of-control junk e-mail epidemic. One study estimates unsolicited bulk e-mails now comprise 36 percent of all e-mail traveling over the Internet, up sharply from 8 percent just one year ago. For more information, visit www.trac.org.