Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008To the Commissioners,As a parent and small business owner I applaud your efforts to curb the problem of unsolicited bulk email. I don't want my kids getting pornographic spam email solicitations and I don't want my business email cluttered with such spam either.However, I am concerned about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists. My online e-commerce site operates in a very small niche market. http://japanese-maple.com is my web site offering Japanese maple trees, seeds and seedlings. I publish an opt-in newsletter and in return for subscribing I give away a 5-part e-course on "How to Grow Japanese Maples". I email my opt-in subscribers once or twice a month at most and they always have an opt-out opportunity in every email I send.I run a small family business and I fear that you will effectively kill my ability to send a simple, informative email to people who have asked to receive my neswletters. I get lots of great testimonials from people who, like me, are complete "plant-aholics". They like my quirky writing style and look forward to my little emails every month.In trying to deal with the awful problem of spam, please do not kill the medium for legitimate business people like me and thousands of us "little guys" who publish using emails.There are so many problems and costs associated with this idea, and so much damage done to consumers and businesses alike, that I feel I must urge you to consider this matter most carefully.Requirement of the use of suppression lists willseriously damage many of the legitimate publications available on the net. My specific concern is for harm to publishers - like me - who require permission from the consumer prior to adding them to any list.They're not who CAN-SPAM was designed to put out of business, but this requirement will very likely have that effect.There's also the potential for significant harm toconsumers, because of the problem of properly knowing their intent when they unsubscribe from a list. On top of that, these suppression lists could easily fall into the hands of spammers, leading to more spam instead of less.I was quite surprised to learn about the potential problems this ruling could involve, and urge you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider its implementation in light of these problems,Thank you,Ken AlstonCommonwealth Plants, LLCEarlysville, Virgnia, USA