OT Anti spam bill still in play

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...m/tech_spam_co
ngress_dc_12&printer=1

House Set to Pass Anti-Spam Bill
Fri Nov 21, 6:46 PM ET

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives stood poised on Friday
to outlaw most Internet spam and create a "do-not-spam" registry for those who
do not wish to receive unsolicited junk e-mail.

In debate on the House floor, lawmakers from both parties praised a compromise
bill that would set jail time and multimillion dollar fines for [bulk emailers].

"There's so many good things in this bill, it's hard to go over them all in a
few minutes," said Texas Democratic Rep. Gene Green.

Kent Betts wrote:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...m/tech_spam_co
ngress_dc_12&printer=1

House Set to Pass Anti-Spam Bill
Fri Nov 21, 6:46 PM ET

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives stood poised on Friday
to outlaw most Internet spam and create a "do-not-spam" registry for those who
do not wish to receive unsolicited junk e-mail.

In debate on the House floor, lawmakers from both parties praised a compromise
bill that would set jail time and multimillion dollar fines for [bulk emailers].

"There's so many good things in this bill, it's hard to go over them all in a
few minutes," said Texas Democratic Rep. Gene Green.

Congress is drinking Kool Aid again. The pending bill is quite _pro_spam_ in
just about every conceivable way. Consider:

1. No mandatory [ADV] subject line labels (except for pr0n)
2. No private right of action - only the govt can sue or prosecute offenders
3. Do you think spammers outside of the U.S. will pay attention to the Do Not
Spam Registry?
4. Allows everyone to send you unsolicited commercial email until you say "stop"
(of course you must say "stop" to each one individually).
5. Supercedes and overrules tougher individual state laws.

This legislation does more harm than good. Email as we know it will cease to be
an effective form of communication by Feb. 1, 2004 (at the latest). If you're
so inclined, you might want to send your Congresscritter a FAX as soon as possible.

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bp
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