WASHINGTON- U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) introduced the CAN-SPAM bill today, which is designed to protect consumers from unsolicited commercial e-mails.

Wyden and Burns authored similar spam legislation in the 106th Congress; the current version of CAN-SPAM is based on a bill that they introduced in the 107th Congress that passed out of the Commerce Committee unanimously.

“Just as quickly as the use of e-mail has spread, its usefulness could dwindle - buried under an avalanche of ‘get rich quick,’ ‘lose weight fast,’ and pornographic marketing pitches,” said Wyden. “This bill will help to keep legitimate Internet traffic and e-commerce flowing by going after those unscrupulous individuals who use e-mail in annoying and misleading ways.”

“Spam has a big economic impact on rural communities and businesses,” said Burns. “The costs are enormous for people paying long distance charges for their internet time. This is unfair to consumers, and something needs to be done. The unanimous passage of the CAN-SPAM bill out of the Commerce Committee shows the strong bipartisan support that we have, and now it’s time to move forward. This legislation has been on hold for too long.”

It has been estimated that 40% of e-mail in the United States is spam, creating an annual cost of over $10 billion. These costs are incurred through lost productivity and the additional equipment, software and manpower needed to deal with the problem. “These numbers keep increasing, costing businesses and individuals more and more each year” said Burns. “We cannot expect it to slow down on its own.”

With this bill, all unsolicited marketing e-mail would be required to have a valid return e-mail address so recipients could easily ask to be removed from mass e-mail lists. Once notified, marketers would be prohibited from sending any further messages to a consumer who has asked them to stop.
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In addition to making it easier for consumers to be removed from mass e-mail lists, the bill would enable Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to bring action to keep unlawful spam from their networks. The legislation contains strong enforcement provisions allowing the Federal Trade Commission to impose civil fines on those who violate the law. State Attorneys General would be given the ability to bring suit on behalf of citizens who have been victimized by unscrupulous marketers.

“The fact that the bill is strongly supported by AOL, Yahoo and eBay speaks to the logical approach the CAN-SPAM bill offers,” said Burns. “I am very confident in this commonsense bill that is critical to the future of e-commerce.”

Senator Burns is Chairman of the Communications Subcommittee; Senator Wyden sits on the Subcommittee as well.

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