Comments:

To the Commissioners, I am pleased that you are taking action, in an effort to reduce the problem of unsolicited bulk email. I am equally concerned however, about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists. This idea creates numerous problems and adds to the cost of doing business online, that would be damaging to consumers, as well as businesses. I would urge you to carefully consider this, before implementing this idea. Requiring the use of suppression lists will seriously damage many of the legitimate publications available online. My specific concern is for harm to publishers who require permission from the consumer prior to adding them to any list. They are not who the CAN-SPAM Act was intended for, but will be effected and even put out of business by this requirement. There is even potential for significant harm to consumers as well, because of the problem of knowing their intent when they unsubscribe from a list. These suppression lists could easily be obtained by spammers, and possibly lead to more spam, making the problem worse than it already is. Once again, I strongly urge you, to give this careful consideration with the consumer and legitimate business owners in mind, before implementing this ruling. Respectfully, Richard Hardage Orange Park, FL., USA