New legislation would allow spammers to be sued

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer has been promising for weeks to introduce an antispam bill, and on Thursday he unveiled a bill that would allow recipients of unsolicited commercial e-mail to sue spammers.

The liberal New York Democrat received support from a group he’s never worked with before, the Christian Coalition of America, while announcing the bill. Schumer and the Christian Coalition called themselves a “political odd couple.”

“The avalanche of pornography being sent to kids by spammers makes checking e-mail on par with watching an X-rated movie,” Schumer said in a statement. “Parents need to be able to keep offensive material out of the family room and I’m working with the Christian Coalition to do just that. The bottom line is that America’s children have been under attack for a long time — from violent TV shows, racy music videos, and now pornographic spam.”

A Christian Coalition spokeswoman said Friday Schumer’s bill, called the Stop Pornography and Abusive Marketing (SPAM) Act, appeals to the group because of its focus on eliminating adult-themed spam. “It’s good legislation,” said spokeswoman Michele Ammons. “We’re all about the family, We have received quite a few calls and e-mails from members complaining about pornographic spam.”

Schumer and the Christian Coalition cited several statistics in touting the need for the legislation. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reported that adult-themed pictures appear in almost one out of every five emails that spammers use to advertise adult web sites, and in a survey this month by Symantec Corp., 47 percent of children reported receiving junk e-mail with links to pornographic Web sites. A 2001 U.S. Department of Commerce study found that 75 percent of 14- to 17-year-olds and 65 percent of 10- to 13-year-olds used the Internet.

Schumer’s bill would allow state attorneys general, Internet service providers and e-mail recipients to file civil suits against spammers. Antispam groups, including the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE), have called for the ability of e-mail recipients to sue spammers, and this is the first bill of seven introduced in Congress this year that would directly allow private lawsuits.

Others, including Montana Republic Senator Conrad Burns, cosponsor of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, argue that private lawsuits would be more of a boon for lawyers than a spam deterrent.

Schumer’s bill would also:

— Requires e-mail marketers to label commercial e-mail with “ADV.” Schumer argued this would allow ISPs and e-mail users to filter unwanted e-mail, but some antispam advocates suggest such a label will only harm legitimate marketers, because those sending illegal spam won’t comply.

— Requires commercial e-mail to have accurate subject headings, and header and router information.

— Requires commercial e-mail to have functional unsubscribe instructions. Some antispam advocates have criticized similar “opt-out” legislation, saying it legitimizes the first round of spam sent to an e-mail user. Groups such as CAUCE have called on Congress to require all commercial e-mail to be sent only after a customer has opted in to receive it.

— Prohibits spammers from “harvesting” e-mail by using software to mine addresses on Web sites and other Internet areas. It also prohibits dictionary attacks, a practice that generates e-mail addresses by the random compilation of names and numbers.

— Creates a national no-spam registry, maintained by the FTC. Parents will have the option of putting their children’s e-mail address in the registry with a special designation prohibiting adult-themed e-mail. Spammers not abiding by the no-spam registry would be fined, and Schumer’s bill would protect the list with “military-caliber encryption.”

FTC commissioners have expressed doubts about the effectiveness of a national do-not-spam list, saying it’d be difficult to maintain because of the large number of e-mail addresses in the U.S. FTC Chairman Timothy Muris, while testifying before a Senate subcommittee Wednesday, also questioned if spammers would abide by the list.

“We’re dealing with people who are already breaking the law,” Muris said of fraudulent spammers. “I would personally, at the moment, be very reluctant to have my e-mail on a do-not-spam list because I’d be very afraid the spammers would get it.”

But Schumer argued that his bill would give consumers and law enforcement multiple tools in fighting spam, with a do-not-spam list a way to justifiy fines for spammers. “My bill fights spam e-mail on two fronts — it gives parents the ability to regulate the email sent to their kids and gives law enforcement the ability to go after those spammers that send this unwanted material out,” he said in a statement.