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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/thespamreport/0,39025001,39117040,00.htm

US House of Reps passes anti-spam bill
Friday night/Saturday morning session will take precedence over some state moves

By Declan McCullagh

Published: Monday 24 November 2003

The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve anti-spam legislation that could end more than six years of failed attempts to create a federal law restricting unsolicited commercial email.

The measure aims to curb unwanted email advertisements for Viagra-like products and get-rich pitches by imposing fines and jail time for offenders. It passed by a vote of 392-5 early on Saturday, following an all-night session of the House. The Senate is expected to follow next week.

Americans "will have the right to say 'Take me off your list, I don't want this in my house'", said Rep Heather Wilson, Republican-New Mexico. Another legislator, Rep Fred Upton, Republican-Michigan, said the bill "protects our kids from being unwittingly exposed to such garbage that may pop up in the family's in-box".

President Bush has indicated he will sign the measure, titled the "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act" (CAN-SPAM). On Friday evening, the Justice Department and the Commerce Department praised CAN-SPAM as "establishing a framework of technological, administrative, civil and criminal tools" that provide consumers with options to reduce the volume of unwanted email.

CAN-SPAM appears to be a compromise that's not as far-reaching as some anti-spam advocates had urged. It permits, but does not require, the Federal Trade Commission to establish a "do not spam" registry, overrides many state laws, and imposes an "opt out" standard instead of a more stringent "opt in" requirement.

If the measure becomes law, certain forms of spam will be officially legalised. The final bill says spammers may send as many "commercial electronic mail messages" as they like - as long as the messages are obviously advertisements with a valid US postal address or PO box and an unsubscribe link at the bottom. Junk email essentially would be treated like junk postal mail, with non-fraudulent email legalised until the recipient chooses to unsubscribe.

Among the five dissenters in the final vote, which was tallied at 3:23AM PST after a night of discussions about Medicare legislation, were two Democratic legislators from the heart of Silicon Valley: Zoe Lofgren and Mike Honda. Republican Ron Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican from Texas, also voted against the bill.

The bill would pre-empt more restrictive state laws, including one that California enacted in September. That law established an opt-in standard and was scheduled to take effect on 1 January. With final passage of this bill, the core of California's law would never take effect. The Senate approved its version of an anti-spam bill in October but the House deadlocked between competing bills supported by Tauzin and Sensenbrenner.

Partisan squabbling between Democrats and Republicans earlier in the year over who could claim credit for an anti-spam law also delayed the process. In July, bickering erupted between the two major parties at a meeting of two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees. Other sections of the bill prohibit the following:

• Falsifying email header information or using either a mail server or open relay to "deceive or mislead recipients" about the origin of a commercial e-mail message. Also outlawed is registering for "five or more" email accounts or "two or more domain names" with false information and using them to send commercial email messages. Penalties include up to three years in prison for a first offence.
• Sending commercial email with deceptive subject lines that "would be likely to mislead a recipient".
• Sending commercial email that does not include "a functioning return" address or a link to a web form that is capable of accepting unsubscribe requests.
• Email address "harvesting" by crawling websites and automated guessing of email addresses by trying mike1@aol.com, mike2@aol.com and so on.
• Using automated methods such as scripts to sign up for free web-based email accounts such as ones provided by Hotmail or Yahoo.
• Sending commercial email with "sexually oriented material" unless it includes a label to be devised by the FTC. That requirement does not apply to opt-in lists. Violations can be punished by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In a prepared statement, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said the bill "will help consumers regain control of their inboxes and support email service providers in their battle to contain the spam menace.

"Microsoft particularly supports the strong enforcement provisions and the ban on falsifying the origin of email solicitations and illegally obtaining lists of email addresses, both of which will help internet service providers prosecute spammers."

Declan McCullagh writes for CNET News.com.