The New York Times reported on Friday that the industry association is seeking to recruit members to join the group. A letter sent by DMA chief executive Robert Wientzen to members on 8th August states, according to the report, that the group wishes to:
"identify significant spam operators who are violating existing laws, develop the cases and refer them to the appropriate state, federal or international prosecuting authorities".
It adds:
"State and federal lawmakers are focusing on this growing blight and are threatening to enact legislation that could have a significant negative impact on marketers".
Operation Slam Spam, as it is called, is being seen in some quarters as a diversionary tactic in the run up to Congress's consideration of eight spam bills, due to take place after Labor Day. The DMA has long been in opposition to the stronger anti-spam measures proposed in some of the bills, and is seeking to dilute them as much as possible, preferring the self-regulatory route.
But the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, Marc Rotenberg, doubts the effectiveness of spam self-regulation. As he told the New York Times, "Self-regulation has obviously failed when it comes to spam. I suspect giving the marketing association responsibility for controlling the growth of spam is not very high on anyone's list."