Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, I appreciate your efforts to reduce unsolicited bulk email. However, I am concerned about the proposed requirement to maintain a suppression list. The problems, costs and time involved for merchants to maintain a list such as this could hinder and possibly cause failure to those who are making an effort to earn a legitimate business on the web, I speak from a personal viewpoint as someone who has spent several months building a web site to support my offline copywriting business. I have watched legitimate businesses on the web make every effort to come into compliance with the CAN-SPAM regulations as I have done on my site, which is nearing completion. However, if this law comes into effect, I’m not sure I can afford to maintain a presence on the web. I recognize that the problem of unsolicited emails is serious and is growing, and that various means must be tested to find a solution. However, if the means harms the legitimate marketers so much that it hurts their business or drives them off the Internet, then perhaps it should be reconsidered. As a consumer who is delighted with the quality of many businesses on the web, it would be a great loss if I could no longer purchase their products or receive their ezines because they felt that it had become too expensive or too much trouble to run an Internet business. As a consumer who appreciates the respect given to my email address by these marketers, I dislike the idea of them being required to send my email address to a suppression site that I do not know. It is because of the privacy policies of these marketers that I have had practically no spam in my inbox in the 4 years that I have held this email. I believe that, potentially, this could hurt the businesses that you are ultimately trying to help, leaving the spammers unscathed, and would appreciate your reevaluation of whether this law should come into effect. Respectfully, Rhonda Douglas Texas, USA