Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, I congratulate you on your efforts to curb the problem of unsolicited bulk email. However, I am concerned about the proposed requirement for innocent merchants to maintain suppression lists. There are so many problems and costs associated with this idea, 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. These business's are not the ones who CAN-SPAM was designed to put out of business, but this requirement will very likely have that effect. There is also 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. Once a list is leaked, it will be impossible to retrieve. Every spammer will quickly get a copy, and then every name on that list is a likely target. The only way the recipient has of avoiding further spam, is to there for change their email address. This would be either an expensive or impossible task depending on that person's situation. 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, Bruce Hearder Perth, Western Australia