Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, I applaud your efforts to curb the problem of unsolicited bulk email. I too am tired of receiving Viagra and porno emails. 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 feel I must urge you to consider this matter most carefully. We could spend so much time trying to keep track of suppressions that we may very well be left with no time to conduct our business. Requirement of the use of suppression lists will seriously damage many of the legitimate publications and business opportunities available on the net. My specific concern is for harm to legitimate e-marketers and 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. In addition, a great many people who have lost jobs to offshore manufacturing and labor, have turned to the Internet as a means of making a living. This means that legitimate affiliate programs will no longer be able to function properly, putting the people who turned to them in order to survive out of work again. 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. On top of that, these suppression lists could easily fall into the hands of spammers, leading to more spam instead of less. Most of the spam I receive is coming from outside the country. No US spam law can control international spam and true spammers know this. So the system gets bypassed anyway. I was quite surprised at the potential problems this ruling could involve, and urge you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider its implementation in light of these problems. ISPs and industry security companies have already provided new technologies for Internet users to report and block Spam. Norton is on the cutting edge of this. Respectfully, Grace L. Cook Danielson, Connecticut USA