Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners: I appreciate your work towards reducing the problem of unsolicited bulk email problems. However, I am concerned about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists. There are so many problems and costs associated with this idea, and so much damage done to consumers and businesses alike, that I'd like to know if you've considered the impact that this rulemaking will have on B2B companies such as mine? Are you truly taking into consider "free trade" as envisioned by our founder fathers under the Constitution of the U.S.? The use of suppression lists will seriously damage my legitimate publications (my freedom of speech) I make available on the net FREE of CHARGE. This is the main marketing tool I use to get other businesses interested in my services. My specific concern is for harm to publishers who require permission from the consumer prior to adding them to any list. How will I ever be able to market my services to other businesses? I'll be out of business, with many other entrepreneurs I wager. And please, have we really defined the term "consumer." I believe that this term applies to every living human being...including respectable B2B owners on the net. We are not the people who CAN-SPAM was designed to stop from spamming, but this requirement will very likely have that effect. There's also the potential for significant harm to everyone, because we properly don't know someone's intent when they subscribe to and 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. Where there's a potential for a great amount of money to be made unethically, those in this frame of mind will take advantage of your rulemaking on supression lists. How have you decided to handle this problem...before it gets started? Who will enforce this Act to prevent this from happening? And how many people are connected to the Internet as of today...? What happens when an unwanted advertisement from a company, that is outside of the U.S., violates this Act? How are you going to prosecute the offender? And let's not forget about how easy it is for someone to falsify "where a message came from." Please believe that there are many very honest business owners who conduct their affairs professionally and ethically on the net. Why punish everyone when only a few have created this systemic spam problem? Ignore them, as users of email frequently do...it's called the trash can on the PC desktop. I was quite surprised at the potential problems this ruling could cause Internet Information Suppliers (Publishers) such as myself. I urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to reconsider the CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 implementation in light of my unanswered questions. Let's show the world how much we truly believe in Free Speech by NOT restricting our ability to communicate electronically on the net. Respectfully, Terry L. Callaghan, MBA/EB Principal TechCOM X-Change, LLC Saranac, MI 48881 USA www.writexchange.net cc: Attached is a pdf file showing you how I legitimately conduct business on the net.