VirusList.com News: U.S. Senate Takes A Swipe At Spam

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

Reprinted from an email list subscription
---

VirusList.com Virus Alerts & Virus News. Wednesday, November 26, 2003
******************************************************************

U.S. Senate Takes A Swipe At Spam

The federal bill hoping to finally get a handle on spam wins a landslide vote in the U.S. Senate.

On November 26th, U.S. lawmakers, themselves buried under irritating spam, have finally awakened to the challenge of putting the clamps on an epidemic literally threatening the effective operation of the Internet. Lawmakers have come to understand that the issue is 'hot' among their constituents. A fact supported by the current bill, Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act, passing unanimously in the Senate, 97-0, and by a landslide, 392-5, in the House of Representatives.

The teeth of the bill are found in fines of up to $3 million and prison sentences of up to five years. Additionally, the bill includes an amendment authorizing a national 'do-not-spam' registry. Meaning, the CAN-SPAM bill will require opt-out provisions and allow fines of up to $100 per spam (unsolicited commercial email) message sent with misleading header return and other header information. No longer can spammers get away with the dubious practices of supplying false or non-functional return addresses and misleading subject lines.

Some feel the bill is not strong enough and doomed to ineffectiveness. The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email, has criticized CAN-SPAM's 'opt out' provision, believing that the only useful tactic would be to enforce and 'opt in' law. The Coalition has gone so far as calling the bill 'pro-spam'. "The problem is that I have yet to see a piece of legislation that qualifies as anti-spam," stated Coalition representative Ray Everett-Church upon introduction of the CAN-SPAM bill this past May.

Microsoft Corporation is optimistic the bill will help, "These provisions not only make the overall bill stronger but help give parents more peace of mind that stiff penalties have been put in place to ward off criminals and to better protect children on the Internet. Spam is no longer just an inconvenience for consumers and the online industry; it has become an intrusive problem that makes it hard for people to sort through their personal e-mail and reduces productivity," commented Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel.