ANTI-SPAM LEGISLATION landed on the president’s desk on Monday with a loud splat. It is a patchwork of the nice-sounding, completely useless bits from the different proposals, all rolled into one.

When politicians say “there is no silver bullet,” it’s a sure sign that the bill they’re talking about is useless at best. And that’s exactly what backers of anti-spam legislation have been saying for the last year as they hashed out a bill that was supposed to rid Americans of the spam clogging their inboxes.