"They've been spending their time on terrorism cases, child porn cases," said Ari Schwartz, associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology. "They have not been as focused on spammers and spyware. This is the main priority for the FTC, to bring civil cases."

FTC regulators have seen the number of international Internet-related complaints rise from 27 in 1996 to 44,310 in 2005, a number they say underestimates the problem. The United States tops the list of spam-producing countries. But about 75 percent of spam and 40 percent of spyware comes from outside the country, according to Leibowitz.

Spam is used to direct consumers to product Web sites. FTC investigators search those sites to see who registered the domain name. If that name is fake, they can subpoena the site registrar. But if that company isn't in the United States, they may get nowhere.

"I think this is done on purpose, because spammers know that it's difficult for us to follow the information when it goes abroad," the FTC's Mithal said.

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., chairman of a House subcommittee that handles consumer protection issues, said he wants the panel to take up the anti-spam bill, called the U.S. SAFE WEB Act, this fall.

Stearns didn't have much luck with a similar bill he sponsored in September 2003. That bill confused some lawmakers, and it took more than a year for the measure to overcome procedural hurdles, said Anna Holmquist Davis, the FTC's former director of congressional relations. Because the bill cut across so many legislative jurisdictions, she said, it was hard to find a champion for it.

"There's nothing that's keeping it from happening if someone wants to make it a priority," she said.

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Web sites: Federal Trade Commission: www.ftc.gov;

Department of Justice, Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section: www.cybercrime.gov; Center for Democracy and Technology: www.cdt.org

E-mail: ngaudiano@gns.gannett.com