Comments:

Dear Commissioners, I am a small business owner and the publisher of three opt-in only newsletters, along with several ecourses. Subscribers must subscribe themselves to my lists either by using a web-based form or by sending an email to the list. I have never sent, nor plan to send UCE (SPAM). I hate spam just as much as the majority of citizen email users. As a matter of fact because I am a newsletter publisher, I hate it even more because it is significantly impacting the ability of my emails to actually get through to those who have requested them! However, I strongly do not believe that suppression lists will have any effect on true spam but rather will only further hurt legitimate businesses. Rather than go through all the reasons here, I would like to refer you to Paul Myers blog, where he has posted an open letter to the FTC commissioners. Paul discussess some of the many problems such an implementation would have for legitimate businesses much better than I could. Please read his detailed comments here: http://www.talkbiz.net/ramblings/weblog.php While you are there on his site, please also go to his entry immediately below the open letter, titled Stupid Spam-Filtering Tricks, dated Tue Mar 09, 2009 where you will gain some insight into why businesses and newsletter publishers hate spam so much. The misuse of spam filters are drastically killing email communications. I now have to look in my spam foldiers to find half of my legitmate email from my clients and customers! While I fully support the desire to kill spam, I am more concerned with misguided efforts hurting legitimate business which I strongly believe the implementation of suppression lists would do. Respectfully, George Dodge