Comments:

April 14, 2004. To the Commissioners, Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 I applaud your efforts to curb the problem of unsolicited bulk email and many people believe is about time as well. However, I am very 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 will be done to consumers and businesses alike, hence the reason for my letter to 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. A specific concern I have is for harm this will do to publishers who require permission from the consumer prior to adding them to any list. These groups are definitely not whom CAN-SPAM was designed to put out of business, but abusers of the email system. However, this requirement will very likely have that unintended effect. Also there's 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. 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, Respectfully, Dr Dare Awobiyi Ediscot Information Services Ediscot & Co. UK.