The Spam Recycling Center [SRC] in
Chicago, a new anti-spam consumer assistance site that allows consumers to
recycle unwanted junk e-mail, said it has collected over 100,000 spam
messages in just six weeks of operation.
The spam is being collected, cataloged and will be forwarded to the Federal
Trade Commission and shared with spam-filter developers to help create better
anti-spam software.
Founded by ChooseYourMail.com and leading anti-spam advocates the Coalition
Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE), SAFEeps and the Forum for
Responsible Ethical Email [FREE], the SRC was designed to help netizens fight
spam, raise public awareness and promote responsible e-mail marketing
practices.
“We are pleased that people have reacted so positively to the SRC and we are
already beginning to learn more about the spam problem,” said Ian Oxman,
president of ChooseYourMail.com. “Our preliminary look at the database
indicates a higher number of unique spam messages collected than we first
anticipated. This could mean that the spam problem is even more widespread
than we originally believed.”
Visitors to the anti-spam site are given instructions on how to forward their
spam and, if they choose, get a featured special offer from a retail sponsor.