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Burns bill looks to put brakes on annoying e-mail
Years ago, the British comedy troupe Monty Python created a skit
that made light of Spam, Hormel’s square-shaped canned pork-shoulder product, in
which a waitress offering limited menu options sang, "Spam, spam, spam, spam" over
and over again.
By MONIQUE BALAS
Medill News Service
Rumor has it among the Internet-friendly that computer spam – the unsolicited junk
e-mails jamming inboxes and taking up bandwidth around the world – got its name from a sense of withering
endlessness the two share. Yet unlike the skit, not many people are laughing about the computer version.
For some computer users who are tired of the deceptive and often-unsavory subject lines, new legislation
introduced by Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., would give them the last laugh.
The Senate Commerce Committee on Friday unanimously voted to advance Burns’ Can Spam Act to the
Senate.
The bill, with 11 co-sponsors from both parties,
would require e-mail marketers to provide a clear,
easy way for people to "opt out" of receiving e-mails
from certain senders; prohibit marketers from using
false or deceptive subject lines; authorize the Federal
Trade Commission to fine marketers, and allow some
parties to sue on behalf of state residents.
"Spam is an intrusion of privacy either because of
its content or frequency," said Greg Gianforte, chief
executive of Bozeman’s RightNow Technologies. "It’s
unsolicited communication that is offensive because
of its frequency or content."
The computer executive estimated that of the 80 to
100 e-mails he receives each day, 20 percent are
unsolicited and unwanted.
Concern for the rural economy was one reason
Burns established the legislation.
"Because of the vast distances in Montana, many
of my constituents are forced to pay long-distance
charges for their time on the Internet," Burns said in a
statement after the committee vote. "Spam makes it
nearly impossible for these people to enjoy the
Internet experience, and it makes it even harder for rural America to flourish in the digital age."
Why does spam cost money? Paying for time on the Internet also means paying for the extra time it takes to
delete the unwanted messages.
"If only 1 percent of the 24 million small businesses in America send you only one piece of spam, you’ll be
hitting "DELETE" an average of 657 times a day," said the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mails,
an Internet advocacy group. "Try clicking your mouse 657 times as quickly as you can, then let us know if that
time and effort is worth avoiding."
Another factor is the amount of money Internet service providers must pay to continue to maintain low-cost,
high-speed access.
According to the coalition’s Web site, http://www.cauce.org, many ISPs now employ "abuse staff," who try to
control unsolicited messages. The same site refers to a recent communication from AOL, which said that of 30
million e-mails each day, 30 percent are unsolicited commercial messages.
Spam concerns not only businesses and ISPs, but concerned parents.
Gianforte has four children between the ages of 6 and 12. He will not allow them to have Internet accounts.
He does not want them to be confronted with offensive material that he cannot monitor – and justifiably so,
considering one mother’s experience.
"What kind of world is it when seven-year olds are flooded with XXX-rated spam?" asks the furious mother
in the "true tales" section of the coaltionWeb site. She said she set up an e-mail account for her son to e-mail
his grandmothers. However, his account soon became flooded with nearly 30 messages a day – most of which,
she wrote, were pornographic.
Burns’ bill does not get a unanimous vote of approval,
however.
"This legislation is not going to live up to its name," said
Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters, a private advocacy
firm that aims to eliminate junk messages of all kinds. "It
doesn’t can spam, it simply requires people to opt out."
He said the other major problem with the bill is its
failure to give individuals the right to sue the offending
"spammer." It does allow attorney generals and ISPs to sue,
but that isn’t enough, he said.
"Most people have found through bitter experience that attempts to stop [spam] will not be successful,"
Catlett said.
The coalition officially opposes the legislation for a similar reason. It maintains that businesses and
consumers should be able to give or withhold the right to receive spam or maintain a "spam-free" zone.
However, the bill is the first that would make spam illegal.
"Making it a crime is a step in the right direction," Gianforte said.
What can I do about spam?
The Federal Trade Commission
advises recipients of unsolicited e-mail to
send a copy of deceptive or unwanted
messages to: [email protected]. The FTC uses
the messages it stores in this database to
take law enforcement action against people
sending deceptive e-mail messages.
Canning Spam
Major parts of the bill:
Requires e-mail marketers to use a working return
address
Requires marketers to give consumers an easily
understandable way to "opt out" – i.e., not receive
future e-mails from the sender
Prohibits marketers from using a false or deceptive
header/subject line
Authorizes the FTC to fine violators at up to $10 per
message, with a cap of $500,000; if a deliberate
violation, fines may be up to three times that amount
Gives Internet service providers the right to sue
marketers who have sent illegal spam
Subjects marketers who intentionally disguise their
identities to criminal penalties
Allows state attorneys general to sue spammers on
behalf of residents of their state
The Taste of Spam
Unsolicited commercial E-mails
include any of the following:
Chain letters
Pyramid schemes (including Multilevel Marketing,
or MLM)
Other "get-rich-quick" or "Make Money Fast"
(MMF) schemes
Offers of phone sex lines and ads for
pornographic Web sites
Offers of software for collecting e-mail addresses
and sending
unsolicited commercial e-mails (UCE)
Offers of bulk e-mailing services for sending UCE
Stock offerings for unknown start-up corporations
Quack health products and remedies
Pirated software ("Warez")
Source: http://www.cauce.org
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