Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, Ladies adn Gentlemen: The following is a text copied from a newsletter of an organization I belong to, and I, as well as many others are very concerned about what is being proposed. Clearly someting has to be done about the use of hte interent by unscrupulous and unethical operators, most of whom are not even soiciting with respect ot legitimate businesses. I am a small businessman (just me), who is trying to get ahead on the internet using legitimate email and e-commerce techniques. What you are proposing will make it very difficlt indeed for me to make use of email to promote my business and I feel that I, and people like me will be carrying an undue burden because of the implementation ofa statute that is not as well crafted as it could be. Please reconsider. I applaud your efforts to curb the problem of unsolicited bulk email. However, I am 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 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. They're not who CAN-SPAM was designed to put out of business, but this requirement will very likely have that effect. There's 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. 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, Robert Wood British Columbia Canada.