New Law Designed To Limit Amount Of Spam In E-Mail

A new federal law, scheduled to take effect on Thursday, could be an internet junkie's dream come true.

A study released six months ago reports that spam costs businesses $874 per employee per year in lost productivity since employees spend so much time clearing out their e-mails every day. A year from now, some experts said nine out of every 10 messages in your inbox could be spam.

"The way I look at it is if I want it, I'll go find it and go ask for it. I would rather me go to them instead of them come to me," computer user Mike Garr said.

The new "Can Spam" Act outlaws some of the techniques spammers use. It may also lead to a do-not-spam list, similar to the do-not-call list aimed at telemarketers.

Skeptics said they could be hard to enforce because so much spam comes from overseas.