Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, I totally support the Can Spam Act and I even have a copy of The Can Spam Act on my office wall. However, I am very uneasy about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists, especially when we are the ones who are supporters of the Can Spam Act Legislation. There are so many problems and costs associated with the idea of a requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists, 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 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. We, the merchants, are the strongest supporters of the Can Spam Act and have gone to great lengths to put an end to spam once and for all, by having opt-in only email lists where the consumer actually fills out a form online requesting to be added before any email is sent, and providing a link or similar system on every email sent that the customer may opt out at any time and be removed from our database. We also have a strict Zero Tolerance Spam Policy in our affiliate applications and terms of service agreements and a provision for termination of any affiliate who violates this. We also refer to the Can Spam Act in our Affiliate Agreements and Terms of Service so as to not only affirm our strict zero tolerance No Spam policy, but also to let our affiliates know the law concerning spam. Although we are not who the Can Spam Act was designed to put out of business, this proposed requirement of suppression list will very likely have that effect on a lot of our businesses that are still in their infancy, such as mine, and I have put my entire retirement savings into getting my business started. There's also the potential for spammers to get hold of these suppression lists, and use them to create even more spam than their is already. Please reconsider the proposed requirement for maintaining suppression lists. Respectfully, Dan M Long State of Oklahoma United States