Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 Hello Commissioners, I would like to congratulate you on your efforts to curb the problem of unsolicited bulk email. However, I am deeply concerned about the proposed mandate requiring merchants to maintain suppression lists. Considering the difficulties and costs associated with such a mandate, and the damage that businesses and consumers alike will incur, I feel that 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 Internet. My specific concern is for harm to publishers who require permission from the consumer prior to adding them to any list. Merchants operating such lists are not who CAN-SPAM was designed to put out of business, but this mandate will very likely do just that. 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. And furthermore, these suppression lists could easily fall into the hands of spammers, leading to more spam instead of less. I was very disturbed by the potential problems this mandate could inflict upon business and consumers alike. I must therefore urge you in the strongest possible way to reconsider its implementation in light of these problems. Respectfully, Rick Lester New South Wales, Australia