If big marketing groups like the DMA are supporting the latest antispam bill that’s a good sign that it’s a bad bill.  In this case, the bill would still allow unsolicited email advertisments as long as there is an “opt-out” method.  This is utter crap because the opt-out requirement will guarantee that your inbox will still be deluged with unwanted email.  What these people fail to comprehend is that there’s a volume problem here.  While it sounds simple for them to do an opt-out, it’s more problematic for the end-user.  There are thousands of businesses that would love to send email if they thought they could get away with it and you’d have to wade through all of them to opt-out of each one. 

As far as I’m concerned, the only viable method that will ensure the continued survival of commercial email is opt-in.  I am willing to entertain certain opt-in emails (in fact I get a few now).  However, I will never, ever accept unsolicited emails from businesses (I don’t even accept emails from businesses I already have a relationship with unless I’ve opted in to them).  The potential for abuse is too great and the volume of them would make them impractical for most people to deal with.