Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, I agree that the problem of unsolicited bulk email is getting out of hand and I appreciate your efforts in trying to eliminate this problem. However, I am troubled about the proposal requiring merchants to maintain suppression lists. To bring this proposal into being would produce many problems and costs and cause so much damage 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. The main concern I have 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. Just the fact that merchants who operate affiliate (reseller) programs would be responsible for the actions or inactions of their affiliates to follow said proposal would cause many of these merchants to close up shop. You would therefore be responsible for many legitimate people giving up their dream of owning their own business and force them to go back to the 9-5 rat race. Many people are earning a good living online and they are doing it legally. It’s a shame that a few bad apples spoil everything for the rest of us, but that’s not a reason to punish everyone. There's also the possibility 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. When I found out about this proposal I was, naturally, 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. The livelihood of many legitimate, honest people are riding on this. Do the right thing and do not pass this proposal into law. Respectfully, Ron Kaiser Virginia, USA