On an average day, nearly 5 billion spam messages flood the Internet, about 56% of all e-mail traffic, estimates Brightmail, a spam-fighting company. The cost of spam, including lost productivity, is estimated to run $10 billion a year.

* Empowering consumers to sue. Utah allows consumers to sue e- mailers for $25,000 every day they receive unwanted messages. Many anti-spam experts say spammers are threatened most by incensed ordinary citizens who could drive up the cost of mass e-mails through lawsuits. Such consumer rights, however, are canceled by the federal law.

Cracking down on mass e-mail requires tough U.S. enforcement to make up for the anti-spam powers denied consumers.Today's debate: Stopping unwanted e-mailConsumers lose rights to sue spammers and refuse annoying e-mail.