Anti-Spam Bill Passed by Congress

CAN SPAM Anti-Spam Bill Passes Congress

On Monday, the US Congress passed an anti-spam bill which outlaws some of the annoying commercial emails known as spam. Spam is a loosely defined term but more or less can be defined as unwanted commercial emails that you never subscribed to from mysterious and sometimes malicious senders.

The House of Representatives approved the bill containing prison time and fines for email senders who attack e-mail inboxes with pornography and get-rich-quick schemes. The measure, which the Senate just passed without debate, now goes to the White House where President Bush is expected to sign it into law by the end of the year.

The bill, dubbed CAN SPAM, will not outlaw all commercial e-mail. Businesses could send messages to anyone with an e-mail address as long as they identified themselves clearly and honored consumer requests to leave them alone.

CAN SPAM would ban a multitude of spammer tactics, such as using false return addresses. Adult themed “porno” e-mail would have to be labeled, and commercial “text messages” to cell phones would be prohibited unless users expressly permitted them.

The anti-spam bill also would authorize the Federal Trade Commission to set up a “Do Not Spam” registry of Internet users who wish to receive no unsolicited e-mail at all, similar to the agency’s popular “Do Not Call” tele-marketing list.

The new anti-spam bill has been hailed around the Internet. AOL, one of the largest Internet service providers praised the bill in a release that was sent out after the anti-spam bill was passed. “This new law will send a strong signal to the spam kingpins: membership in the spam club has its consequences. If you send junk email using outlaw tactics to AOL’s members, we will work with law enforcement to bring the harshest penalties possible - including fines and even jail time.”

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