Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, With the greatest of respect and whilst I applaud your efforts to curb the problem of unsolicited bulk email, I am very concerned about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists. There are numerous problems associated with the proposed suppression lists and the potential for damage to both consumers and businesses alike is of a magnitude almost to frightening to concieve. I urge you to consider this matter most carefully. The requirement of the use of suppression lists will undoubtedly inflict severe if not terminal damage on many of the legitimate publications available on the net. More specifically my concern is for the inevitable harm to the many publishers who require permission from the consumer prior to adding them to any list. I am certain you will agree that these legitimate publishers are not who the 'CAN-SPAM' legislation was designed to put out of business, however the proposed suppression list requirement will very likely have just that effect. Given that the perpetrators of bulk unsolictited email blatantly flout the law it is in my opinion inevitable that they or their representatives will promptly join programs with the sole purpose of gaining access to and using the lists to send yet more 'Spam', defeating the purpose of the lists in the first place. In fact the use of such lists could indeed make the acquisition of personal details for illegal means even easier than it currently is, for example a few seconds signing up for a large affiliate program may result in an individual having access to a list numbering several million. I could present many more problems for your consideration, however I have little doubt that many others will present their opinions and I am certain you will understand the enormity of the potential problems associated with suppression lists as a means of controlling Spam. I, along with millions of other business owners and publishers will wholeheartedly support any reasonable proposal in the quest to eliminate unsolicited bulk email, with the greatest of respect I honestly don't believe suppression lists are the answer. I urge you to seriously consider the consequences of introducing suppression lists as a commercial requirement. Respectfully and sincerely, Eric T Hart Christchurch New Zealand