Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, Thank you for your efforts to protect consumers from unsolicited bulk email. However, I am concerned about the proposed changes to requirements for suppression lists. I am new to the arena of marketing on the Internet and have been trying very hard to learn all the rules, as well as to understand better what works and what doesn't. Altogether, it is a formidable task but exciting. And I have been committed since Day 1 to being both responsible and effective in my efforts. Although I am admittedly a novice to all of this, it is my understanding that there are potentially many problems and costs associated with the proposed changes to requirements for suppression lists. It is my understanding that this proposal will drastically affect small businesses on the Internet, as well as preventing consumers from receiving emails containing information of interest to them. Personally, I subscribe to several ezines and receive email updates on purchases that I have made or issues of interest to me. I do not consider these to be spam, but find that they are generally a source of information that is highly valuable to me. And I am troubled by very few emails that contain information which does not interest me. As someone who is both a consumer and a new Internet marketer, I find that the system works very well as it currently is. I worry that the requirement for the use of suppression lists, as proposed, 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. I do not believe that these businesses are those that CAN-SPAM was designed to affect, but it is my understanding that this requirement would very likely put these legitimate concerns out of business. This would significantly affect people like me as consumers. And it could also effectively suppress the great potential that the Internet has for small and home businesses to succeed as never before. It is also my understanding that these suppression lists could easily fall into the hands of spammers, possibly leading to more spam instead of less. I was distressed to hear about the potential problems this ruling could involve, and urge you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider its implementation in light of these problems. Please continue to help us to control spam but also to keep the Internet open to legitimate businesses and the exciting new opportunities that the net presents. Respectfully yours, Michelle Copeland Seattle, Washington, USA