FC: New anti-spam bill from Christian Coalition, Sen. Chuck Schumer

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

A copy of the bill is here:
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/schumer.antispam.bill.061203.pdf
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http://news.com.com/2100-1028-1016779.html

   Bill would let spamees sue spammers
   By Declan McCullagh
   June 12, 2003, 7:21 PM PT

   A pair of unusual political allies, a left-wing Democrat and a
   conservative religious group, teamed up on Thursday in Washington's
   latest bid to rid the Internet of spam.

   Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York joined with the Christian Coalition to
   announce support for a new bill that would create a national "Do Not
   Spam" registry of e-mail addresses and, unlike other federal proposals
   to date, give individuals the right to sue spammers for $1,000 per
   unlawful message.

   In a second unusual twist, Schumer's Stop Pornography and Abusive
   Marketing (SPAM) Act generally requires that unsolicited commercial
   e-mail include "ADV"--for advertisement--in subject lines. But the
   SPAM bill has been questioned because certain industry groups, such as
   the Direct Marketing Association, could qualify for a loophole that
   would permit them to send bulk e-mail without placing ADV on their
   messages.

   Schumer's proposal has also been criticized because it could endanger
   legitimate Internet services such as "anonymous remailers" and would
   give marketers access to the complete do-not-spam list.

   [...remainder snipped...] 




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