Porn spammers to face jail in US

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

NEWS
The Bush administration on Tuesday urged Congress to enact a new law criminalising pornographic and fraudulent spam. William Moschella, an assistant attorney general, said the Department of Justice supports a bill called the Reduction in Distribution (RID) of Spam Act. "We at the department believe the legislation addresses the most difficult types of email to address, and that is the fraudulent and the pornographic," Moschella told a House of Representatives subcommittee. "And for that reason, we're very supportive." If the RID Spam Act, which has been endorsed by AOL Time Warner and Microsoft, were to become law, it would require warning labels on unsolicited commercial email, and would prohibit falsifying email headers. Violators would be punished by fines and, depending on the circumstances, up to two years in prison. At Tuesday's hearing, members of the Judiciary subcommitee on crime seemed to agree that criminal penalties were necessary. But they sparred over whether an "opt in" approach is better than the bill's current "opt out" requirement. One of the RID Spam Act's sections permits anyone to send non-fraudulent spam to any number of recipients -- as long as the messages contain a "clear and conspicuous" way to decline future mailings. Representative Robert Scott wondered if "there should be an unlimited right to fill up your mailbox with email." Anti-spam activists have criticised the RID Spam Act for pre-empting state laws against spam, which in some cases are far stricter, and for granting many thousands of email marketers the right to send email messages to consumers until they click on an "unsubscribe" link. Representative Bob Goodlatte defended the bill's opt-out approach. Goodlatte said that of the physical junk mail he gets, "maybe 10 percent of it is something that I have some interest in. For that reason alone, I think an opt-out approach is the best solution here." Joe Rubin, director of public and congressional affairs for the US Chamber of Commerce, agreed. "I wouldn't be upset to see a cheap airfare emailed to me," he told the subcommittee. "If Sears sends me an email regarding a discount on a lube job at Sears, that's something that most consumers probably won't be upset about." During one exchange, the spam discussion echoed the traditional divide between the two major parties over class action lawsuits and trial lawyers. An analysis performed by Common Cause for the 2000 election cycle calculated that trial lawyers favoured the Democratic Party over the Republican Party by a 40 to 1 margin for soft money contributions. Moschella said the Department of Justice "has not taken a position on opt-in versus opt-out." Class actions?
Chris Murray, legislative counsel for the Consumers Union, took issue with the bill's opt-out section, saying opt-in is sufficient for legitimate businesses. Murray also criticised a portion of the bill that lets Internet service providers sue spammers while prohibiting class-action lawsuits. "Class-action enforcement is the only way we're going to clean this up," Murray said. Goodlatte, however, predicted that civil penalties imposed on spammers -- instead of criminal sanctions -- will simply cause them to flee the country to escape paying judgments. While many states have enacted laws regulating spam, the federal government has not. The RID Spam Act has the backing of two powerful committee chairmen: house energy and commerce chairman Billy Tauzin, and house judiciary chairman James Sensenbrenner, making it a strong contender to be voted on by the House this year
For everything Internet-related, from the latest legal and policy-related news, to domain name updates, see ZDNet UK's Internet News Section. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

bdantas

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

22 minutes ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

52 minutes ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

56 minutes ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Moley

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

2 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
ramwellian

Your comments would seem pretty naive and immature. Your 'solution' appears to be, "gee, let's all just give in to the hackers and give them...

2 hours ago by ramwellian on Cloud computing security: no more oxymoron?
BugStalker

"Interesting thought ... If you installed Win7 as a dual boot on a machine that previously only had Linux, and it wrecked your Linux installation,...

2 hours ago by BugStalker on Windows 7 Declares War on GRUB
whs001

This is an excellent summary of Ubuntu and Mint and the interface differences between them. Most such articles take a very partisan position for...

2 hours ago by whs001 on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Moley

@ewallace. Not so clear. Anyone can obtain the text, for example from here http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2379. I support ACTA so long as it and...

3 hours ago by Moley on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions
45283

I think WinRT is fantastic. I just wish it was an option for people that didn't want to go through Microsoft's App Store with its attendant...

6 hours ago by 45283 on Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA
Burn-IT

Nine people? £30m? Who's back pocket is that lot going in? And IF they say it is for new buildings, what about all the ones the government has...

7 hours ago by Burn-IT on Police set to launch three £30m e-crime hubs
ewallace

Just to be clear, nobody knows what is in the text of ACTA, here is a photograph of the text of ACTA http://twitpic.com/8h9iju as submitted to the...

7 hours ago by ewallace on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions
fgvrg56

Unfortunately main issue is that ASUS is refusing to accept that they make some mistake on this version of asus Transformer prime. 1 - GPS sensor...

8 hours ago by fgvrg56 on Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wi-Fi & GPS problems?
Ben Woods

@Marcus A fair question. Just talked with Archos which said it was working on an announcement for next week....

9 hours ago by Ben Woods on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule
Marcus Karlsson

Any update on this, considering the claimed "first week of February"?

10 hours ago by Marcus Karlsson via Facebook on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule
apexwm

Bill Goodrich : Just as al_langevin pointed out, with Windows Server 2008 there is no Services for Macintosh anymore. It's gone, not available....

19 hours ago by apexwm on Windows Server 2008 drops the ball for Mac compatibility
txtrainguy

Replying to an old topic that I'm currently facing with my CEO (who is on a Mac). Our servers are primarily Windows Servers, office is about...

1 day ago by txtrainguy on Windows Server 2008 drops the ball for Mac compatibility
k0tcs3

Sure, that makes perfect sense. Pay wrong-doers money and thank them for breaching your security and pointing out your flaws, that would surely...

1 day ago by k0tcs3 on US indicts Romanian over NASA climate change hack
Random_Error

I think he's referring specifically to Android apps, as Apple do regulate their App Store, but Google seem to let any old crap onto the Android store!

1 day ago by Random_Error on RIM: BlackBerry will keep 'garbage' apps out of store
Paul Fezziwig

Keep the crap apps out?! How will they compete with Android and Apple's claim to fame of having so many life changing apps? I wonder if the media...

1 day ago by Paul Fezziwig via Facebook on RIM: BlackBerry will keep 'garbage' apps out of store
Aigars Mahinovs

It has been shown time after time that if there is an author store that sells the songs at even 1$ per song and gives you a high-quality digital...

1 day ago by Aigars Mahinovs via Facebook on Copyright isn't working, says European Commission