Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, I salute your efforts to curb the problem of spam. Spam is terrible, expensive, and almost made me stop using email until I found software to help filter it out. However, I am concerned about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists, and I'd like to comment on the forwarding issue. As both a customer and online merchant, I see some real problems and costs associated with the suppression list idea, and so much damage done to consumers and businesses alike, that I feel I must urge you to consider this matter carefully. Requirement of the use of suppression lists will seriously damage many of the legitimate publications available on the net. My specific concern is for harm to publishers 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 to consumers, because of the problem of properly knowing their intent when they unsubscribe from a list. I think the potential problems this ruling could involve, and urge you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider its implementation in light of these problems. I have made other comments via your questions above, especially with reference to the forwarding approach. The KEY is whether the person is forwarding it to a friend or someone they know PERSONALLY (even if just onliine) via a prior legitimate relationship, not the referral method itself. Respectfully, Sheldon Nix Wilmington, Delaware