Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, There is no doubt that some effort and legislation is required to curb the problem of unsolicited bulk email, particularly when email of an undesirable type can so easily be sent to vulnerable persons. I am, however, concerned about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists and whether this in itself will seriously affect the proliferaters of material containing pornographic and child images. In reality, there are so many problems and costs associated with this act and so much damage done to genuine and legitimate businesses that I feel I must urge you to consider the following 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. Such people are not who CAN-SPAM was designed to put out of business, but this requirement is more likely to have that effect than to affect any of the real targets 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. One of the tools widely used by pronographers and similar peddlars is to get people to unsubscribe so that they can, in reality, add them to their mailing lists. Similarly, any suppression lists could easily fall into the hands of such spammers, leading to more spam instead of less. I was not a little surprised at the potential problems this ruling could involve, and urge you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider its implementation in this light. Respectfully yours Michael Knight Internet Marketing Publishing and Sales BOURNEMOUTH, United Kingdom