WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate agreed Wednesday to impose tough new limits on the irritating but lucrative business of e-mailing unwanted sales pitches to millions of people in the United States.
Internet users have complained about mailboxes clogged with offers for prescription drugs, cheap loans, herbal remedies and pornography.
The Senate voted 97-0 to approve the "Can Spam" bill. The measure outlaws the shadiest techniques used by many of the Internet's most prolific e-mailers, who pump out millions of unsolicited messages daily. Despite the vote, senators cautioned computer users not to expect an immediate end to overflowing inboxes.
"The odds of us defeating spam by legislation alone are extremely low, but that does not mean we should stand idly by and do nothing about it," said John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
The bill, sponsored by Sens. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., prohibits senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail from disguising their identity by using a false return address or misleading subject line. The legislation also bans senders from harvesting addresses off Web sites and requires such e-mails to include a mechanism so recipients can indicate they do not want future mass-mailings.
The Bush administration supports the bill, although similar legislation has stalled in the House. Sens. John Edwards, D-N.C., John Kerry, D-Mass., and Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, missed the vote.
"Kingpin spammers who send out e-mail by the millions are threatening to drown the Internet in a sea of trash, and the American people want it stopped," Wyden said. Acknowledging problems with e-mails originating overseas, he urged other countries to approve similar limits.
Burns said time spent by consumers wading through unwanted messages and the costs to businesses and Internet providers delivering them were "escalating and wide-ranging." Under the bill, he said, "people will think twice before they send it, and that's the answer."
The bill also requires commercial e-mail senders to include their physical address, along with a clear notice that the message is an advertisement or sales pitch.
Violators could be sentenced for up to three years in prison under an amendment by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., leaders of the Judiciary Committee. Their provision explicitly bans spammers from, among other practices, hacking into computers to use as surreptitious relay points to disguise the origin of unwanted e-mails.
Hatch said the bill cracks down on unwanted e-mails "without unnecessarily burdening legitimate electronic commerce." The bill was supported by some leading technology companies, such as Microsoft Corp. and America Online, a division of Time Warner Inc. Microsoft blocks roughly 2.4 billion unwanted e-mails daily from subscribers.
Technology companies have developed increasingly sophisticated software to filter unwanted e-mails, but legislation would give consumers one more tool to combat spam. The term was applied to unwanted e-mails after a 1970 Monty Python skit in which an exasperated restaurant customer is urged to order the canned meat product until she screams, "I don't want any Spam!"
One amendment, by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., authorizes the Federal Trade Commission to establish a do-not-spam list, similar to the agency's popular do-not-call list of telephone numbers that marketers are supposed not to call. The Direct Marketing Association opposes that amendment and has described it as "a bad idea that is never going to work."
posted on October 23, 2003 09:17:14 AM new
This morning I had 175 spam emails...sometimes it's as high as 300. I don't click on them or respond. Is there a good program that will eliminate them effectively? Right now, my email is virtually unusable.
posted on October 23, 2003 09:31:02 AM new
I get over 3000 emails daily, about 30 are legitimate the rest are spam. I sue the britemail filtering system so I never see them for the most part but I have to check them before deleting as occasionally real email gets filtered. I waste about 30 minutes daily doing this. Most are sent to various email addresses I have posted on my websites as contacts for information.
I doubt this legislation is enforceable but I hope it works.
Republican, the other white meat!
posted on October 23, 2003 09:32:18 AM new
If I don't check my email every day, it would add up to almost 500 a day.
And I have to look at the subject and sender, in case its about ebay, or the 3 people I exchange email with consistently. In the past week I have counted Twenty emails that were to ELIMINATE SPAM or a 'Spam Remedy' Which I considered SPAM and deleted it. I refuse to buy a program that spams you to get rid of spam!
I am afraid of some of those programs, since I do have 2 different ebay IDs and I don't want to lose any contact with any buyers.
Wanna Take a Ride? Art Bell is Back! Weekends on C2C-www.coasttocoastam.com
posted on October 23, 2003 10:13:16 AM new3000EMAILS / DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mother Teresa wouldn’t have had the patience to put up with that!
I received 130SPAM in the last 24Hrs.
I got a program on the net called MailWasher,
It will permit you to bounce emails and mark for future bouncing, before opening your primary e-mail program.
It’s free but they ask for a donation.
The free version will only work for one e-mail program but the paid version will work on more.
I just scan the tittles before bouncing, so obviously I risk bouncing the wrong ones.
But once you’re on these lists, I think all you can do is change e-mail addresses.
posted on October 23, 2003 12:32:37 PM new
My ISP is Earthlink & I recently signed up for their Total Access service (it's free). I now get my email though their program insted of IE Outlook Express--it handles just about the same, but with a nice addition called Spamblocker. Any emails from folks not in my address book are not downloaded & instead are quarantined into "Known spam" & "Suspect email" files. I can look at the suspect emails & any that I want to receive I click on & send to be downloaded into my inbox. Then, if I want to, I can empty the "Spam" & "suspect" files--otherwise, Earthlink will automatically do it for me after a certain period.
I LOVE this program! Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there --Clare Booth Luce
posted on October 23, 2003 04:40:32 PM new
This is great, I've always hated that canned meat byproduct
"Another plague upon the land, as devastating as the locusts God loosed on the Egyptians, is "Political Correctness.'" --Charlton Heston
[ edited by BEAR1949 on Oct 23, 2003 04:53 PM ]
posted on October 23, 2003 07:12:28 PM new
The fed's actions, while laudable in spirit, won't make one whit of difference to the amount of crap in your inbox. I get very little spam....2or 3 per day. I use web mail (yahoo) for all purchases, and especially for ebay...Also for any page that requires me to log in to read the page. I've had the same home address 5 years. A lot of spam gets into your box by virtue of your own actions elsewhere on the net.
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In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. -- H.L. Mencken
posted on October 23, 2003 07:56:17 PM new
As far as the canned meat product goes, maybe I should post this in the secrets thread, except it's not a secret, IMO there is nothing like a fried SPAM sammich, spam gotta be real crispy, almost burnt, lotsa mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, thin sliced red onion on good spicy dark rye...Guinness for the wash down of course...
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In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. -- H.L. Mencken
posted on October 23, 2003 08:45:46 PM new
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." -- Ernest Hemingway
"Reality is an illusion that occurs due to lack of alcohol." -- Anonymous
"24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence?" -- Stephen Wright
"Another plague upon the land, as devastating as the locusts God loosed on the Egyptians, is "Political Correctness.'" --Charlton Heston
posted on October 25, 2003 10:08:01 PM new
You're welcome. Though, to be honest, I wasn't recommending it--I was just saying what I used Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there --Clare Booth Luce
posted on October 25, 2003 11:44:32 PM new
SPAM, it's not just for breakfast anymore
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In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. -- H.L. Mencken
posted on October 26, 2003 05:39:33 AM new I LOVE this program!
I've gathered that you don't make such statements about love without serious conviction so I consider it a recommendation whether you intended one or not!!!
posted on October 26, 2003 05:47:21 AM newA Californian court has fined a US marketing firm $ 2 million for sending out millions of unsolicited mails to Internet users.
Attorney General Bill Lockyer brought the case against PW Marketing of Los Angeles County and its owners Paul Willis and Claudia Griffin in 2002 under a 1998 anti-spam law.
Under newly amended Californian laws, individuals can sue spammers and collect damages up to $ 1,000 per email.
I have not sited the website source; to avoid persecution.
posted on October 26, 2003 06:00:16 AM new
near LOL @ fried spam sandwiches!
Sort of off-topic, but a true story...
I lived in Charleston, SC several years ago. Two Air Force guys (one from upstate SC and the other from TN) lived in the townhouse next door to mine, and a brick wall separated our patios. One night a friend and I were sitting on the patio having a drink and smelled the most HORRIBLE smell you could imagine. The guys next door were cooking out with some buddies and having a great time. They realized we were outside, and invited us over to "party" and have "surf and turf". Their idea of surf and turf? They were grilling sardines and spam on the grill!! LOL!!! And we passed on dinner
"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it." - A Few Good Men
