The dangers of bad e-mail marketing practices are real, though, as reported be Matt Hicks of eWeek. Jupiter confirms that spam is expected to consistently account for about 39% of those increasing e-mail messages.
Hicks says that eighteen states have laws in place regarding spam. Penalties can include fines for sending unsolicited e-mail messages that don't follow prescribed labeling provisions and for not having processes allowing recipients to be taken off e-mail lists, called opting out. In addition, federal legislation is in the works, and dozens of countries in Europe have spam laws with even tougher provisions that in some cases ban commercial e-mail unless a recipient had requested to receive it, a process called opting in.
And, spam watchdog groups such as Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC, or MAPS, and major Internet service providers are becoming more active in blocking domains of companies considered to be spammers.