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Bush Signs National Anti-Spam Law
The law gives law enforcers some good tools, but won't be a cure-all for the fast-growing spam problem.
A new anti-spam law signed by President Bush marks the federal government's first stab at cleansing the Internet of deceptive and unsolicited commercial e-mail, but critics complain that its provisions are too weak and technology experts suggest that it may be impossible for legislation passed by one country to eliminate the global spam problem.
The law's most anticipated provision is one that opens the door for the creation of a national "do-not-spam" registry similar to the national "do-not-call" list that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched earlier this year to curb telemarketing calls.
The Can-Spam Act of 2003 also outlaws spammers' common practice of falsifying the "from" information and the subject lines of e-mail solicitations to trick recipients into opening them. Violators can be fined as much as $6 million and jailed for up to five years under the law.
After years of opposing spam legislation, the DMA endorsed the Can-Spam Act, in part because it preempts stiffer state laws like those on the books in Washington, California and Virginia.
Virginia last week announced its first felony spam indictments, charging two North Carolina men with running a major illegal bulk e-mail operation. Some anti-spam groups say laws like Virginia's could become meaningless under the federal law's less stringent punishments.
The majority of spam that drives people crazy is not coming from legitimate marketers, and getting (illegitimate marketers) to comply is going to be just as difficult as it's always been.
The U.S. law comes as the European Union tries to get its member countries to adopt its own anti-spam statute. The EU law requires companies to get people's permission before sending them e-mail or tracking their locations through their cellphones. It also forbids companies and individuals from installing software on people's computers to track their Internet use. The law leaves it up to the individual EU nations to develop their own penalties.
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