Forum participants, including Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and notorious spammer William Waggoner, weighed in on whether spam is a viable method of marketing products or an onerous burden that clogs network servers and wastes users' time. On Wednesday morning, FTC officials moderated panels that examined the definition of spam and the techniques used for harvesting e-mail off the Internet.

The Burns-Wyden bill, sponsored by Wyden and Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont)., contains measures intended to reduce spam. The legislation is slated to go up again for review by Congress in the current session.

Some attendees at the discussion said federal legislation is necessary to confront the spam problem. According to a recent report by Ferris Research, spam cost corporations $8.9 billion in lost productivity and compromised server performance and help-desk resources last year.

"No one piece of legislation will solve the problem," said David Baker, vice president of public policy at ISP EarthLink. He said a combination of legislation, litigation and technology is needed.

One forum attendee, who is both an employee of a direct-marketing company and an IT manager, said he could see both sides of the spam debate.

"I want to help keep focus on the fact that while spam is unsolicited, high-volume e-mail" may actually be requested by the recipient, said Rob Edwards, director of IT at Royall & Co., a Richmond, Va.-based company that uses e-mail to distribute information about educational products and services.