A government-run "Do Not Spam" list would only generate more unwanted email, as using technology might generate even more unsolicited sales pitches across the Internet, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC says it fears that unscrupulous solicitors of spam would bombard such a registry of email addresses and feed more spam into inboxes, according to the FTC report.

The commission, which was obligated to consider the proposal under the CAN-SPAM legislation that President Bush signed in December, concluded that it would be "largely powerless to identify those responsible for misusing the registry."
 
Regulators proposed adopting new authentication technology that would make it more difficult to disguise the origin of spam. Proposals from leading technology companies, including Microsoft Corp., are under consideration.

"A national do-not-email registry, without a system in place to authenticate the origin of email messages, would fail to reduce the burden of spam and may even increase the amount of spam received by consumers," the commission said.

If new authentication plans fail to emerge, the FTC says it will assemble a federal advisory committee to determine whether the government could require Internet providers to adopt one.

"Without effective authentication of e-mail, any registry is doomed to fail," the commission said.

The FTC said it was particularly worried about issues of security and privacy in regards to children whose addresses might be added to such a list.

"A registry that identified accounts used by children, for example, could assist legitimate marketers to avoid sending inappropriate messages to children," the commission said. "At the same time, however, the Internet's most dangerous users, including pedophiles, also could use this information to target children."