With so many people getting scammed by spam, the courts are facing litigation regarding this growing problem. Recently the Virginia attorney general asked the highest court in the country to revive a state anti-spam law. The law had been struck down by a lower court who found it unconstitutionally broad.

In September, the Supreme Court in Virginia found the law violated First Amendment protection of free speech. The intention of the law was to prohibit anonymous, unsolicited bulk email. Most states already have anti-spam laws and there is also a federal statute. Virginia is the only state that is not limited to commercial emails.

When this ruling was rendered, the law in Virginia overturned Jeremy Jaynes' conviction. Jaynes was one of the world's biggest spammers and he assaulted countless Internet users with millions of commercial spam correspondences.

As lawmakers continue to decide the constitutionality of spam communications, the problem continues to grow in epic proportions. Businesses loses hours of working time because employees must process spam email. Home computers are overtaking by viruses the user was not aware of.

Instead of waiting for the government to take action against spam, take control yourself. Don't open email if you don't know who sent it. Be careful about the websites you and your employees visit. Never purchase goods or services from an insecure website. Make sure the website has an SSL certificate clearly posted so you know your personal and banking information is being safely transmitted. In turn, make sure your own website has an updated SSL certificate so clients feel comfortable making purchases.

Choose a web host offering a spam filter. With a spam filter, you can eliminate 99 percent of the spam your business receives. Have more time for profitable activities when you finally get rid of time-consumer, hazardous spam communications.

About the author David Tanguay David is the owner of Interactive Online, a web hosting service provider. He specializes in hosting and designing websites built using open source software and contributes to the Joomla, Drupal and WordPress projects.

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