Garlinghouse had a different estimate for IDG News Service, which reported him as saying that DomainKeys will require "widespread adoption" from industry to be effective. The IDG article said that "legitimate organization that doesn't use DomainKeys will be unable to embed the private-key validation in its outgoing messages, leading these messages to fail the validation test at recipient systems that do use DomainKeys. ... This is a big challenge for DomainKeys' success, said Jonathan Gaw , an IDC analyst. 'They'll have to convince a lot of people to cooperate with them,' he said. 'It's going to take a lot of effort on Yahoo's part to get everybody on board.' Achieving that type of consensus from people who run mail servers around the world will be difficult, especially at companies that may fail to see what value this has for them, he said." * Reuters via USA Today: Yahoo Proposes New Internet Anti-Spam Structure * IDG News Service: Yahoo Pitching Antispam Initiative to Industry

Spam Law Enforcement = Nightmare

As Yahoo ramps up its private push, governments worldwide grapple with legislation to stem the tide of junk mail.

The European Union passed a law, which went live Oct. 31, to ban spam, but it has already hit roadblocks. The EU "has asked nine member nations that have failed to adopt a privacy law intended to help the fight against unwanted email to describe how they intend to comply with the law. Belgium , Germany , Greece , Finland , France , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , Portugal , and Sweden must provide the explanation within two months of face possible court action," The Associated Press said on Friday. "The law aims to reduce internet fraud and protect legitimate businesses by banning companies from sending unsolicited email, plucking personal data from web sites or pinpointing the locations of satellite-linked mobile phone users," the article reported. Erkki Liikanen , commissioner for enterprise and the information society, told The AP: "It is urgent that member states adopt a consistent legislative approach to such issues," Liikanen said. "This will strengthen consumer confidence in e-commerce and electronic services." * The Associated Press via Australian IT: EU Presses For Spam Laws * EU's spam law, included in regulatory framework for e-communications infrastructure

The EU's anti-spam law has a . cousin. But like the EU's effort, the federal Can Spam Act of 2003 could be too good to be true. Trying to actually enforce anti-spam legislation could spell the death of various spam-fighting efforts. "Eradicating spam is a top priority for the American government too. The Can Spam Act made comfortable progress through Congress this week, the first piece of federal legislation to attempt to reduce the amount of unsolicited electronic garbage passing over the internet. Opinion is divided as to how effective the new law will be. But if it works at all, it will also help to improve internet security. Spam is often the transmitter of computer viruses," The Economist wrote on Nov. 27. * The Economist: Fighting The Worms of Mass Destruction (Article is from Nov. 27)

The Seattle Times columnist Charles Bermant noted on Saturday that the anti-spam law is slated to be "pushed through the sausage machine that is our federal government this week." More from the article: "The bill, due for consideration when Congress tackles this session's home stretch, is often criticized as more of a public-relations move than an effective way to get rid of the scourge. There are those who suggest the bill is all style and no substance, that it is only a cynical play for voter support. Consider the numbers: The House voted 392-5 in favor of the bill and sent it to the Senate , which made some revisions and passed it back to the house with a 97-0 vote. (One of the first calls I'll make when they come back into session is to the five House holdouts and the Senate absentees, to see what they were thinking)," he wrote. "Reading the bill can make your head hurt. Not because it is necessarily wrong or misguided, but in general, it really doesn't have a chance to make a difference. Spammers are sly monsters who can turn on a technology dime. Take a requirement for senders to include a working opt-out feature. The trouble here is that most people believe replying to spam causes it to multiply -- and who knows how spammers will try to deal with it. Still, it might work if the government manages to prosecute the most egregious offenders. * The Seattle Times: 'Lip Service Bill' Against Spam May Alter Perceptions At Least

Research firm Gartner last week issued a report on the legislation. The skinny? Researchers there don't think the law will control the spam problem for companies and could instead make it worse. "Enterprises should not expect federal legislation to solve their inbound spam filtering problem. CANSPAM will likely not change spammer behavior. However, it will cause increased scrutiny of all e-mail. Enterprise spam protection lies in good e-mail management processes and the judicious use of spamfiltering technology," Gartner wrote.

E-Tailers Change With Times

Online direct marketers continue to worry that their messages are getting lost in the spam shuffle, so they've adjusted their practices, The New York Times wrote last week. "E-mail is everything a direct marketer could want - fast, flexible and, most of all, cheap. It is, in fact, far too cheap. That makes it possible for marketers of all sorts to send lots of it - even for products like miracle pills that only one person in a million buys - until recipients are swamped with spam. The inevitable has happened. E-mail marketers are finding their electronic fields so despoiled and barren of paying customers that they must move on," the article said. "There are only so many e-mail addresses and so many people who opt onto lists," Timothy C. Choate , chief executive of online ad company Aptimus , told the paper. "You can only contact people so many times." * The New York Times: Marketers Adjust As Spam Clogs The Arteries of E-Commerce (Registration required) (Article is from Dec. 1)

No Blue Laws for Blue Spam

Spam legislation is weaving its way through Congress and state houses across the nation, but companies might have to be on alert for the type of spam that is likely bombarding its workers. "Legal experts are warning companies to do more to stop pornographic spam reaching employees. Firms that do not take steps to stop sexually explicit spam could face lawsuits from employees suffering distress because of exposure to offensive images," BBC News Online wrote in a Dec. 3 article. "The experts urge companies to deploy anti-spam tools and curb offensive messages before they reach workers' desktops. 'This is an obvious case where employers are directly liable to their employees,' said net law expert Dr. Brian Bandey ." * BBC News Online: Sexual Spam Could Spark Lawsuits (Article is from Dec. 3)

The Buzz on Cell Phones

Shocker: Cell phones are popular. Gartner Dataquest released a new survey that found that the cell phone market could reach a half billion units this year. But with the numbers come some winners and losers in the competitive mobile phone industry. "The mobile phone market is on fire. We're seeing phenomenal growth." Ben Wood , a Gartner Dataquest analyst, told Reuters. "A total of 133 million mobile phones were bought by consumers in the third quarter alone, Gartner found. Vendors benefited from a double whammy of demand for cheap phones from emerging markets like Russia , India and China as well as an appetite for color screen and camera phones in saturated markets where consumers traded in their old models." Reuters also noted the study found that " Finland 's Nokia and .-based Motorola are under pressure from German rival Siemens and Korean vendors Samsung and LG ." * Reuters via : Mobile Phones Could Reach Hlf-Bln-Survey

The Wall Street Journal reported some of the latest cell phone number crunching, showing that Nokia didn't fare so well on the abacus. "Nokia Corp., the world's largest cellphone maker, suffered a sharp loss in market share in western Europe in the third quarter, according to two industry research firms. Strategy Analytics of Boston reported that Nokia's share of shipments into the western European cellphone market fell to 42% for the third quarter, from 51% a year earlier. International Data Corp. of Framingham, Mass., which uses a different research methodology, said Nokia's share of shipments in western Europe declined to 51% from 55% for the same period a year earlier. IDC said second-largest cellphone maker Siemens AG of Germany saw its share of shipments rise to 19% from 15% over the same period," the article said. * The Wall Street Journal: Nokia's Strength Is Seen Slipping In Western Europe (Subscription required)

Let the Screeners Begin

A federal court ruled on Friday that Hollywood studios can send out "screeners," or preview tapes and DVDs of movies to help get their films PR for consideration of award shows. The Motion Picture Association of America had banned the popular practice over digital piracy fears, but independent filmmakers and others balked, saying it would hinder their works. After the ruling, "the scramble was on to produce [the screeners] in time," USA Today said. "It was a surprise victory for independent filmmakers and a blow to the MPAA and the major movie studios it represents. They had insisted that the ban of so-called 'screeners' was merely intended to stop piracy. Ironically, MPAA president Jack Valenti 's own testimony in favor of the ban convinced . District Judge Michael B. Mukasey that it violated antitrust law. Valenti argued that the ban should apply to all studios because otherwise, one or two independents would send out screeners 'to get a momentary advantage.' Valenti thus proved that banning screeners hurts the independents," the newspaper said. The Hollywood Reporter, a trade publication for the film industry, said the MPAA is already planning an appeal of the ruling. * USA Today: Screener Ruling Has Studios Scrambling * The Hollywood Reporter: MPAA Plans To Appeal Judge's Lifting of Ban of Screeners

More on the ruling, from The Los Angeles Times: "Mukasey said he did not question 'the sincerity' of the Motion Picture Assn. of America in its effort to combat rampant piracy of films when it adopted the policy against sending out screeners. But he nevertheless sided with a coalition of independent filmmakers who argued that they would be irreparably harmed by the policy because 'little movies' such as theirs depend on the screeners to compete for the awards that often are key to their success." * The Los Angeles Times: Judge Deals Studios Defeat, Restores Movie 'Screeners' (Registration required)

Ho, Ho, Ho -- Some Tech IPOs

Technology IPOs have come out of hibernation, but The San Jose Mercury News today helps temper the excitement over the born-again trend. "In the past six months, 19 Silicon Valley companies have raised $ billion, including two large offerings from Seagate Technology and SanDisk . However, more than half of the companies that sold stock are smaller firms with little or no profits, raising questions about whether investors have become overly enthusiastic about fast-growing -- and in some cases, unproven -- companies. The fervor reminds some experienced investors of the speculation of the late 1990s and early 2000, before the Nasdaq composite index peaked March 10, 2000," the newspaper said. "It's either December 1999 or March 2000 all over again," Paul Sonkin , a partner in the small firm-oriented Hummingbird Value Fund , told the paper. * The San Jose Mercury News: Valley Stock Offerings Revive

Dow Jones Newswires today wrote about the overall market trend of IPOs, with most of the expected activity not in the tech sector, but in financial services and other industry. However, the article notes that the "IPO market is poised for its most active period since the height of the technology-stock boom. Over the next two weeks, the market is expected to yield as many as 22 initial public offerings of stock. Even if all of them don't make it to market -- a possibility at a time when IPO investors have shown a marked selectivity for their purchases -- Wall Street underwriters still have a good shot of making this the busiest December for IPOs since 1999, according to data from Thomson Financial ," the article said. "There is also expected to be a healthy batch of technology IPOs. Chief among these is the high-profile IPO of online travel agent Orbitz Inc. Orbitz, which is owned by major . airlines, plans to sell 11 million shares at $22 to $24 apiece next week via Goldman Sachs and CSFB ," the article added. * Dow Jones Newswires via The Wall Street Journal: Blizzard of Issues Is Expected As Clock Ticks Down on 2003 (Subscription required)

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