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Re: fyi.. House Committee Passes Bill Limiting Spam E-Mail

2000-06-15 16:10:02
At 04:37 PM 6/15/00, Keith Moore wrote:
yeah, the bill contains language like

"Unsolicited commercial electronic mail can be an important mechanism
through which businesses advertise and attract customers in the online
environment."

this bill isn't designed to limit spam; it's designed to make it legal.

In the interest of providing both sides of the story, it should be noted that the bill also contains language like:

"The receipt of unsolicited commercial electronic mail may result in costs to recipients who cannot refuse to accept such mail and who incur costs for the storage of such mail, or for the time spent accessing, reviewing, and discarding such mail, or for both."

and

"Unsolicited commercial electronic mail may impose significant monetary costs on interactive computer services, businesses, and educational and nonprofit institutions that carry and receive such mail, as there is a finite volume of mail that such providers, businesses, and institutions can handle without further investment. The sending of such mail is increasingly and negatively affecting the quality of service provided to customers of interactive computer service, and shifting costs from the sender of the advertisement to the interactive computer service."

I've yet to read the whole bill (H.R. 3113), but I suspect (or, at least, hope) that the politicians behind this legislation are intending to draft a federal law that, unlike at least two state attempts, will survive a constitutional challenge.

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Douglas M. Isenberg
Attorney @ Law
Editor & Publisher, GigaLaw.com
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