FTC Sees Spam Law Working

NEW YORK The CAN-SPAM Act, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2004, has helped to improve the problem of spam, the Federal Trade Commission said in a progress report to Congress required under the law.

The FTC noted that, by most measures, the amount of spam reaching consumers is steady or declining.

Legal actions taken by the FTC and state authorities have deterred spammers, the agency concluded. Officials also credit the improvements to e-mail providers’ beefed-up filtering technology, and consumers taking steps to ward off spam.

“It’s