The deluge of unsolicited bulk e-mail has snarled networks, clogged servers and created such a public nuisance that new laws are necessary, participants concluded during the first day of a three-day government summit on spam.

Exactly how a law might be worded will be discussed later this week, but companies told the Federal Trade Commission that they need help urgently. AOL Time Warner's America Online, for instance, said its spam volume has doubled in the last two months, with more than 2 billion unsolicited e-mail messages arriving every day.

The Attack on SPAM