Link to The CAN SPAM Act of 2003 (S. 877)

Burns, Wyden Win Passage of Anti-Spam Legislation
Legislation gives consumers more control over unwanted e-mail, promises stiff punishment for senders of unlawful, deceptive spam

October 22, 2003

Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today won unanimous Senate approval of the bipartisan CAN SPAM Act of 2003 (S. 877), aimed at helping American consumers deal with the growing problem of unsolicited e-mail or “spam.” Wyden and Burns have worked for more than three years on legislation to curb spam, which constitutes nearly half of all e-mail traffic today. The legislation passed by the Senate today includes a number of tough civil and criminal penalties against the senders of unlawful unsolicited e-mail, and addresses a number of other issues including the idea of a “do not spam” list and special warnings for pornographic messages.

“Today, the Senate has sent the message that the government is going on the offensive against kingpin spammers,” said Wyden. “Americans are tired of just watching and fretting over in-boxes clogged with offensive e-mail, and this legislation is an important step toward giving consumers more control.”

“This is something we have been working on for some time now,” said Burns. “There has been an ongoing push from all sides on this issue, and the time has finally come. The overwhelming message from consumers and industry alike is that something needed to be done and I am happy to say that today we succeeded in that effort in the Senate.”

Worldwide, more than 13 billion spam e-mail messages are sent each day. Costs in the United States alone have been estimated at $10 billion per year, due to expenses for anti-spam equipment and manpower and lost productivity. The Burns-Wyden bill particularly targets deceptive messages sent by many large-volume spammers, who often hide their identities, use misleading subject lines, and refuse to honor opt-out requests from spam recipients.

Following is a description of the provisions of the bill approved by the Senate today.
Civil provisions of the bill include the following:

· a requirement that senders of marketing e-mail to include a return address so the consumer can tell them to stop;

· a requirement that unsolicited messages include clear notification that the message is an advertisement, and a valid physical postal address;.

· a prohibition on false and deceptive headers and subject lines B so that consumers can immediately identify the true source of the message, and so that Internet companies can identify the high-volume senders of spam;

· a provision to triple the monetary damages imposed on spammers who engage in particularly nefarious spamming techniques B such as using automatic software programs to Aharvest@ e-mail addresses from Internet websites, and using Adictionary attack@ software to send messages to a succession of randomly generated e-mail addresses in search of real recipients; and

· strong, multi-pronged enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission, state Attorneys General, and Internet service providers (ISPs), with the potential for multi-million dollars judgments.

Additional criminal provisions, authored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) were added into the legislation by amendment on the Senate floor. The Hatch/Leahy criminal provisions create several tiers of penalties, ranging up to 5 years in prison, for several common “spamming” practices, including:

· hacking into somebody else=s computer to send bulk spam;

· using Aopen relays@ to send bulk spam with an intent to deceive;

· falsifying header information in bulk spam; and

· registering for 5 or more email accounts using false registration information, and using these accounts to send bulk spam.

· sending bulk spam from somebody else’s Internet protocol addresses.

The Burns-Wyden legislation, with an amendment from Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), also requires the Federal Trade Commission to report to Congress with a plan to implement a “do-not-spam” list, similar to the “do-not-call” list for which millions of Americans have already registered, and to share any potential drawbacks or difficulties with the implementation of such a list. The legislation also gives the FTC the authority to implement a do-not-spam list.

Other amendments to S. 877 include provisions to require the FTC to write rules for mandatory labeling of pornographic messages; a separate provision directs the FTC to consider mandatory labeling for unsolicited e-mail generally, as well as possible financial rewards for tech-savvy citizens who help trace hard-to-find spammers.

A number of anti-spam bills are currently moving through the House of Representatives. Wyden and Burns hope to work with their anti-spam counterparts in the House to send final legislation to the President’s desk this year.

 

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