[2084] in Humor
NOT HUMOR: But awfully good news!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (abennett@MIT.EDU)
Thu May 22 11:46:09 1997
From: <abennett@MIT.EDU>
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Reply-To: abennett@alum.mit.edu
Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 11:40:32 EDT
Note that humor@mit.edu doesn't fall under this legislation. So
there. Nyah. :P
;)
-Drew
May 21, 1997
MURKOWSKI INTRODUCES BILL TO LIMIT
UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL E-MAIL
WASHINGTON -- Saying the Internet is about choices, not bans, Alaska
Sen. Frank Murkowski today introduced legislation to give computer
owners an ability to screen out unsolicited commercial e-mail
messages, often call junk e-mail or "spam."
The bill would require senders to label such e-mails as advertisements
so that computer users could request service providers to screen out
all such messages if they wish, or they could ask to be removed from
specific computer mailing lists. Under the law, providers would have
to end further transmissions of the junk e-mail within 48 hours, once
requested. Junk e-mailers would also be required to use accurate
e-mail routing information and not disguise their messages' routing in
an attempt to deceive Internet consumers. Deceptive Internet routing
is often used to avoid the current, limited methods of blocking that
many Internet Service Providers use to protect their customers.
The bill would give large providers a year to install the equipment
needed to screen out advertisements, while smaller providers would be
given two years to comply. And the bill would require service
providers to cut off service to companies that send out junk e-mail
without the required information.
"The Internet is about choices, not outright bans. I do not want to
set a precedent in banning commercial speech on the
Internet. Unsolicited advertisements are annoying, but I do not
believe that is a basis for an outright ban. A better approach is to
simply ignore them, by filtering them out. If enough Americans choose
to filter out such e-mail messages, I seriously doubt that anyone will
bother to send them out, since the cyberspace market will no longer be
there," said Murkowski, a member of the Congressional Internet
Caucus. Murkowski added "You can ask the Post Office to stop junk mail
from being delivered to your mailbox. Federal law requires
telemarketers to not call you during dinner or in the middle of the
night. Junk faxes were banned by Congressional action in 1991. It's
about time such consumer empowerment was made available to Internet
users."
Murkowski said he elected not to follow the precedent of the Automated
Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, that banned all unsolicited
facsimile transmissions, because the Supreme Court is currently
deciding a case concerning free speech rights on the Internet and
because the Alaskan Republican senator said he felt Internet users
would not welcome a flat ban by government affecting Internet usage.
"I don't believe Americans want government telling them what they can
receive, but they want the right to decide for themselves," he said.
Murkowski said he is introducing the "Unsolicited Commercial
Electronic Mail Choice Act of 1997 because many Americans don't want
to receive commercial e-mails, especially in rural states like Alaska
where recipients pay not only for Internet access, but also
long-distance phone charges necessary to reach access numbers.
"Given the proliferation of unsolicited e-mail, something is needed to
be done. Junk e-mail is known in the trade by the derisive term of
spam.' Based upon the content of many of these messages, I'd be
insulted if I were an employee of Hormel, the creator of the real
Spam," said Murkowski.
"Not only is junk e-mail an annoyance, but for many Americans,
especially citizens living in rural states like Alaska, there is a
real out-of-pocket cost they must pay to receive these unsolicited
advertisements. When an on-line subscriber in rural Alaska or Montana
logs onto a network server to check for e-mail, the subscriber must
pay a long distance charge. If there is no e-mail in his on-line
mailbox, the subscriber's charge may only cover a minute.
"However, if there are 25 messages in his mailbox, 24 of which are
unsolicited e-mail ads, his long-distance charges could triple or
quadruple. The user is being forced to pay for the privilege' of
receiving junk mail and then having to waste his time hitting the
delete key to empty this junk out of his mail box," said Murkowski.
The bill does not affect automated mailing lists, e-mails between
friends, or e-mails between businesses and their customers where there
is a pre-existing business relationship. It will require not only the
use of the word "Advertisement" as the first word of the subject line
of any unsolicited commercial e-mail, but also that the sender include
his real address, e-mail address and telephone number in the body of
the message.
Under Murkowski's bill, violators would face the possibility of legal
action from private citizens, state attorney generals and the Federal
Trade Commission, with civil penalties of up to $11,000 per
incident. Private recovery per e-mail message in violation of the act
would be limited to $5,000, plus reasonable attorneys fees.
The bill will head to the Senate Commerce Committee for review.
NOTE: Senator Murkowski strongly encourages the Internet community to
make specific recommendations or comments about the
legislation. Please send them to this address:
commercialemail@murkowski.senate.gov
People wishing to view the full text of the bill can log onto:
http://www.senate.gov/~murkowski/commercialemail
