Almost nobody hates spam more than I do. I have like four layers of anti-spam protection running on my PC, including RBL (realtime black lists), iHateSpam, CloudMark, and an anti-spam software installed on our Exchange Server.

I wrote a column about my "spam rage" recently, which you can check out here.

Recently, major ISPs have announced plans to TURN OFF Internet access to any zombie PCs sending out spam. WOW! I couldn't help but pump my fist and cheer the ISPs on!

You can read about this very interesting news here:
MSNBC - Spam-sending PCs could be kicked offline

Interestingly, the ACLU hasn't caught wind of this idea and complained. I can see them arguing freedom of speech issues or "What if I lose a million dollar deal because I couldn't access my email?"

Well, honestly, I don't think they have much ground to stand on. When you sign up with an ISP, you sign an agreement form. If that agreement form states you cannot send spam (which is illegal now) and you break that agreement, then the ISP has the right to temporarily knock you offline.

I wrote about a potential solution to this problem in a column titled "IP Address? It's A Virus Calling!"

Essentially my idea was to use ubiquitous Instant Messaging clients to inform users that their PC is infected with a zombie or virus causing their PC to send out spam.

Earthlink is testing a feature whereby you can only access a special web page the next time they logon that that describes the zombie or virus problem with their computer, and provides links to software that will fix the problem.

Maybe the battle with spam has finally turned? One can only hope...