The heat rises: controlling spam & ... advertising!

If you think spam is the universal advertising irritant, think again. There's anti-advertising steps and technologies being implemented everywhere. No form of advertising--legitimate or illegitimate is safe anymore. Our audiences, legislators and network providers are too savvy these days. They are fed up, and they don't want to take it anymore!

Just look at how things are lining up: first, we have our anti-spam movement that is ramping up with big time marketers getting into the fray alongside all the blacklists and ISP's that want to make sure that you never see this ugly snake-bellied freeloading monster creep into your mailbox.

Google recently announced the official release of its revamped toolbar recently with its ability to block pop-up and pop-under advertisements. The move puts the popular search engine squarely in the growing camp opposing the Internet's most unpopular ad format. Both EarthLink and AOL began offering its customers blocking tools the past year.

For TV we have Tivo that strips out advertising while you watch or record your favorite shows.

Next we have the "Do Not Call Registry" which has surpassed the thirty million mark of people who have requested that telemarketers dare not call their homes for fear of fines and whatever other repercussions punitive anti-advertising folks can dream up.

Perhaps the only act of magnanimity was a recent stay on the exceedingly stringent new addition to the fax law that would require marketers to have signed permission forms on file before they could fax even their own customers.

As the audience changes advertising must take a new turn and re-invent itself.

This issue gives you some insights into how the audience is changing as well as the laws.