In other horrible news, the Senate has found a way to make the spam problem worse than ever by passing the "Can Spam Act," whose primary effect will be to sweep aside more effective state laws regarding spam.
(I must admit, "more effective" isn't much. I have for some time believed that the solution to spam will be technological rather than legislative, most likely in the form of a revised e-mail protocol that requires authentication of senders and prohibition of open relays)
This bill is "essentially the same as the one that the House of Representatives passed in a 392-5 vote last week." As noted above, the primary effect of the new law will to create a federal preemption of state laws regulating spam, wiping them all away. The new federal law, if signed by the President, will eradicate the right of private citizens to sue for spam violations that currently exist in many states, and will impose an "anti-spam" list akin to the FTC's "Do Not Call List." The FTC has already objected to this proposal, citing the obvious grounds that spammers outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. will simply use the registry as a confirmed e-mail list.
How do I know the bill is bad? The Direct Marketing Association thinks it's a great idea.
The DMA, which for many years opposed anti-spam legislation, has been eager to get a federal bill on the books to protect their members from multiple state-level laws. The DMA supported the bill but raised some concerns with the do-not-spam list, which they feared would harm "legitimate" marketers.
Anti-spam advocates, on the other hand, hate it:
Anti-spam advocates are unhappy because the legislation would invalidate several state laws that are tougher on spam. California and Washington, for example, allow people to sue spammers, whereas the federal bill does not. California's law also allows fines against spammers of up to $1,000 per e-mail message with a cap at $1 million. Two of the five House lawmakers who opposed the bill were California Reps. Mike Honda (D) and Zoe Lofgren (D), who criticized the measure for undermining California's law, the most strict in the nation.
It's been a bad week all around - the nation would have been far better off if the Senate had called it quits last Friday and taken an early start to the Thanksgiving holiday.
UPDATE: In a little bit of good news, the bill isn't yet ready to head to the White House, because the Senate tweaked it:
Minor changes made to the congressional anti-spam bill in the Senate will require the House to vote once again on the measure before it can be sent to the White House. That vote is expected to happen when Congress returns after the Thanksgiving break.
Of course, it's doubtful that the bill will lose a new vote in the House when the original margin was so wide. Got spam? File your lawsuit this week.
Posted by wasylik at November 25, 2003 06:15 PM | TrackBack