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[_ooss AM 5/30/2001, Internet Policy News Technical teams working behind the scenes at ISPs around the world let it be known at the conference that they really despise unsolicited e-mail, commonly known as spam. They gathered there for two days to debate the technical, legal and social effects spam has had on their jobs and the Internet as a whole. "Spam is definitely a problem for us," said Ava Pettit-Mountain, who works in the abuse department for the Boston-based telecommunication company RCN. "Just in terms of consumer complaints it's definitely got a chilling effect." Much of Pettit-Mountain's workday is consumed by dealing with customer complaints over the hundreds of thousands of e-mail messages that pass through RCN’s network each day. While much of her job is dedicated to tracking down Internet hackers that go about their rogue business on RCN's cable and Internet service, Pettit-Mountain said that more than half of each day is consumed by sorting through complaints and phone calls from customers angry over the junk mail that piles up in their inboxes. "A lot of customers -- they want a magic button," she said. “We do have some mechanisms in place to block e-mail but obviously we have to be conservative about it." Abuse departments at ISPs from Earthlink to UUNet Technologies -- each represented at the conference -- offered similar disdain for the overwhelming problem created by mass e-mail marketing, which often is distributed for illegal or unethical purposes. Many of the people attending SpamCon are looking for answers. "Technologists have always said, ‘It's a problem that can be solved with technology.’ End users have said, ‘Let's sue spammers into oblivion.’ I think it's none of the above," said Tom Geller, the director of SpamCon and an author and pundit on the subject. Finding a solution to spam has, however, left most people stumped. Congress has had little luck on the issue. The House of Representatives Wednesday slimmed down a bill that would protect consumers against unsolicited bulk e-mail. Page 4 of 9 b6 -5 b7c -5 9/23/2003 be -5 b7Cc FBI(19-cv-1495)-2155 -5