FTC Publishes Agenda for Three-day Public Spam Workshop

The Federal Trade Commission has published an agenda and list of participants for a three-day "Spam Forum" it will host Wednesday, April 30 through Friday, May 2. The forum is being held to address the proliferation of unsolicited commercial e-mail and to explore the technical, legal, and financial issues associated with it. The forum will be held at the Federal Trade Commission, 601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. It will be open to the public and preregistration is not required. The detailed agenda is available at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/spam/agenda.pdf

Panels include discussions of:

• E-mail Address Gathering
• Falsity in Sending Spam
• Open Relays/Open Proxies/Form Mail Scripts
• The Economics of Spam
• Blacklists
• Best Practices
• Wireless Spam
• Federal and State Legislation
• International Perspectives
• Litigation Challenges
• Technological Solutions to Spam/Structural Changes to E-Mail

Those wishing to attend the Spam Forum should be aware that it is open to the public, that the FTC anticipates large attendance, and that space is extremely limited. The Conference Center at the FTC's Satellite Building (601 New Jersey Ave. NW) seats only 350 people. Overflow rooms with video and audio broadcast of the Forum will be at the FTC's Headquarters building (600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW), a 15- minute walk from the Satellite Building. Space also is limited in the overflow rooms. Accordingly, the facilities may not be able to accommodate all of those who wish to attend.

Detailed copies of the agenda, showing panel times and participants, is available at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/spam/agenda.pdf and also from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint, or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1 877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.htm. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.