Just ahead of the July 4th weekend, regulators in Australia, the UK and the US signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to fight spam. A copy of the 11-page MoU (in pdf) is here.
While I am critical of the CAN SPAM Act in the US and many other
anti-spam laws (mostly because I think they’re not effective), and much
prefer technical/user-oriented solutions (see the work-in-progress Accountable Net
idea), it’s plain that international cooperation to catch the worst
spammers and related fraudsters is a critically important backstop.
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John Palfrey 
We exaggerate the harm of spam – the delete button is right there and takes a few moments to use – even with extensive spam recipts – in my case about 150 per day. What is FAR more of a problem are the vigilante Spam Cops who for wahtever reasons delight in blocking a company making contact in a purely legitimate and one-to-one manner. I have been blocked, although my only bulk mailing is to a 200-plus opt-in list of my own for my online Poster Magazine. I have NEVER spammed in my life, and NEVER bulk-mailed anyone – yet for mischievous reasons of their own these nasty amateurs are bent on destroying sdmall business. IF anyone needs regulating it is these people and not those attempting to use legitimate business tools in a legitimate way.
These will be the ones who will destroy any trust in online business not the merely irritating purveyors of Viagra and the like.