President Bush signs first federal spam law, takes effect Jan. 1 [sp]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031216-4.html

                                                    For Immediate Release
                                            Office of the Press Secretary
                                                        December 16, 2003

   Fact Sheet: President Bush Signs Anit-Spam Law 

   On  December  16, 2003, President Bush signed into law the Controlling
   the  Assault  of  Non-Solicited  Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003
   (CAN-SPAM  Act),  which  establishes  a  framework  of administrative,
   civil, and criminal tools to help America's consumers, businesses, and
   families combat unsolicited commercial e-mail, known as spam.

   The  new law is a pro-consumer measure that allows consumers to choose
   to  stop  further  unsolicited  spam from a sender. It also provides a
   protection  against  spam  containing  unmarked  sexually-oriented  or
   pornographic material. 

     * Spam  is a problem for Americans. E-mail is an extremely important
       and  effective  means of communications and is used by millions of
       Americans  on  a daily basis for personal and commercial purposes.
       Its   convenience   and   efficiency,  however,  are  increasingly
       threatened  by  the rise in spam. Spam currently accounts for over
       half  of  all  e-mail  traffic.  Today, most spam is fraudulent or
       deceptive  in  nature. The growth in spam also imposes significant
       costs  on Internet Service Providers (ISPs), businesses, and other
       organizations,  since  they  can  only  handle  a finite volume of
       e-mail without making further investments in their infrastructure.
     * The  law  provides  a  well-balanced  approach  that  will help to
       address  some  of  the  harmful  impacts  of  spam.  The  problems
       associated  with  spam  cannot  be  solved  by Federal legislation
       alone,  but  will  require  the  development  and  adoption of new
       technologies.  Nonetheless, the law will help address the problems
       associated  with  the  rapid growth and abuse of spam. The new law
       establishes important "rules of the road" for civil enforcement by
       the  Federal Trade Commission (FTC), other Federal agencies, State
       attorneys general, and ISPs to help curb spam. It also creates new
       criminal penalties to assist in deterring the most offensive forms
       of spam, including unmarked sexually-oriented messages and e-mails
       containing  fraudulent  headers.  At  the  same time, the law caps
       statutory damages for civil violations in most cases. The law also
       provides  greater  certainty in interstate commerce for businesses
       that would otherwise face a wide diversity of state laws on spam.
     * The  law  builds  upon  the  Administration's  efforts  to empower
       consumers  with  choices  in  the technology field. Under the law,
       consumers  are  provided  with a choice not to receive any further
       unsolicited  messages  from  a sender. Senders that do not honor a
       consumer's request are subject to civil penalties.
     * The  law  strengthens a cornerstone of the Administration's agenda
       to  help  protect children against pornography. The law makes spam
       containing unmarked sexually-oriented material a criminal offense.
       The  labeling  requirement  gives  parents a tool to protect their
       children  from such messages. Under the law, senders of e-mail are
       required   to   place   warning   labels  on  messages  containing
       sexually-oriented  or  pornographic  material.  If  they knowingly
       violate  this  requirement,  spammers  are  subject  to  fines  or
       imprisonment.
     * The  Administration  supports  the  law's  tools to help deter the
       harmful   effects  of  deceptive  and  misleading  spam.  The  law
       establishes both civil and criminal prohibitions to deter spammers
       from   using  false  or  misleading  identification,  and  imposes
       penalties against spammers for these violations.
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