Anti-spam groups hail Schumer legislation

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Anti-spam legislation introduced by Sen. Charles E. Schumer has earned unusually strong support from anti-spam groups, who say it will come closer than any other congressional proposal to telling spammers to stop.

The New York Democrat's Stop Pornography and Abusive Marketing Act, or SPAM Act, calls for a national "No Spam Registry," the only proposal that tells spammers to stop sending unsolicited e-mail to people who don't want it.

Six other proposals merely allow for recipients to opt out of receiving future messages from individual spammers once they receive them and make spamming illegal only if the sender ignores the opt-out request or uses deceptive practices.

"The [other bills] fail the most basic test ... none of them actually tell anyone not to spam," said John Mozena, co-founder and vice president of the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail and a supporter of the SPAM Act.

In general, any unsolicited e-mail sent in bulk is considered spam, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and it makes up about 40 percent of all e-mail. Most spam advertises for financial services or other products or is pornographic in nature. Spammers routinely send billions of e-mails per day, costing businesses and consumers more than $10 billion each year.

Under the SPAM Act, a computer user could register his or her e-mail address in a federal database similar to the new "do not call" lists designed to fend off telemarketers.

Many states have enacted do-not-call lists and have had varying degrees of success in curbing telemarketing. The FTC will begin manning the National Do Not Call Registry Oct. 1.

A national "no spam" list would allow the FTC to fine spammers up to $5,000 for each violation; those who misuse the registry could be fined up to $100,000. Additionally, those receiving spam could sue for as much as $1,000 for each such e-mail. Repeat offenders could get jail time.

"I think that spam, particularly the pornographic aspects, had to be stopped," Mr. Schumer said yesterday. "I wanted to come up with the toughest legislation."