Not only hasn't the CAN-SPAM act canned spam, it has resulted in an explosion of the stuff across the pond. (The image was cached by Google, but originally published in China.)

This is the message, backed by evidence, of MessageLabs, as reported by the BBC.

Some 70% of all e-mail is now spam, and it's going to be 80% in just a few months. Porn is no longer the big problem. Now it's drugs and finance scams.

Solving the problem is going to be increasingly difficult, however, because the U.S. continues to insist on legalizing "spam-that-is-not-spam."

Microsoft is one of the chief culprits here. While they have endorsed Meng Wong's SPF proposal, they have also gotten into bed with outfits like Ironport, which take bribes from spammers-that-aren't-spammers to get their garbage through the filters.

The problem is simple. The Internet is a worldwide network. For any enforcement mechanism to have a chance it must be based on a worldwide standard, or else everyone runs to where crime pays. In the case of spam, crime pays in the USA. Until Americans become angry enough over this to do something about it, over the objections of the so-called "e-mail marketing industry," everyone's inboxes will remain hostage to it.