Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions S877

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

By Mr. BURNS (for himself, Mr. WYDEN,Mr.STEVENS, and Mr. BREAUX,Mr. THOMAS,Ms LANDRIEU and Mr. SCHUMER):

S. 877. A bill to regulate interstate commerce by imposing limitations and penalties on the transmission of unsolicited commercial electronic mail via the Internet; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I am pleased today to be teaming up again with my good friend Senator Burns to reintroduce legislation to address the rising tide of unsolicited commercial e-mail, commonly known as "spam."

In the last Congress, our anti-spam legislation was approved unanimously by the Senate Commerce Committee. Since that time—nearly a year ago now—the problem of spam has been increasing at an alarming rate. Roughly 40 percent of all e-mail traffic in the United States is spam, up from 8 percent in late 2001 and nearly doubling in the past six months. By 2004, according to some estimates, a typical company that fails to take defensive action could find that over 50 percent of its e-mail messages will be spam. This isn't just annoying, it's costly: one consulting group has estimated that spam will cost U.S. organizations more than $10 billion this year, due to expenses for anti-spam equipment and manpower and lost productivity.

If nothing is done, the situation is only likely to get worse. The fundamental problem—and what makes spam different from other types of marketing—is that it is so cheap to send huge volumes of messages. With the stroke of a key, the spammer can let fly a massive torrent of e-mails. And since the sender doesn't pay any per-message postage, the incentive is to send as many as possible. The cost of all these extra messages is borne by the Internet service providers, ISPs, and the recipients, not by the sender. So as far as the spammer is concerned, the sky is the limit.

Anyone who uses e-mail should be deeply concerned about this trend. In a few short years, e-mail quickly went from a novelty to a core medium of communication for millions of Americans. They came to rely on it daily, for business and personal communications alike. But just as quickly as e-mail rose to prominence, its usefulness could dwindle—buried under an avalanche of endless "Get Rich Quick," "Lose Weight Fast," and offensive pornographic marketing pitches. As consumers grow frustrated with bloated in-boxes, and as ISP networks and e-commerce websites are slowed by mounting junk e-mail traffic jams, enthusiasm for the entire medium of e-mail and e-commerce could sour.

Right now, e-mail users and ISPs are trying to manage the problem as best they can. They use filtering software, or lists of known spammers, or sign up for special anti-spam services. But these tactics can be burdensome, costly, and only partially effective. The fact is, existing laws do not provide sufficient tools. More help is needed.

Many States have moved to address the issue. But e-mail is not a medium that respects, or even recognizes, State borders. Indeed, e-mail addresses tell nothing about which State the user is located in, so the sender and recipient of an e-mail message may have no clue where the other is located. Therefore, this is one area where a State-by-State patchwork of rules makes no sense. It is time for a nationwide approach.

That is why Senator Burns and I are reintroducing the "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act"—the CAN SPAM Act, for short. This bipartisan legislation says that if you want to send unsolicited marketing e-mail, you've got to play by a set of rules—rules that allow the recipient to see where the messages are coming from, and to tell the sender to stop. The basic goal is simple: give the consumer more control.

Specifically, the bill would prohibit the use of falsified or deceptive headers or subject lines, so that consumers will be able to identify the true source of the message. A sender of unsolicited marketing e-mail would also be required to provide the recipient with a return address or similar mechanism that can be used to tell the sender, "no more." And once a consumer says "no more," a sender would be required to honor that request. Senders of unsolicited commercial messages would also be required to include a clear notification that the message is an advertisement or solicitation, and a valid physical postal address.

The bill includes strong enforcement provisions to ensure compliance. Spammers that intentionally disguise their identities would be subject to misdemeanor criminal penalties. The Federal Trade Commission would have authority to impose civil fines. State attorneys general would be able to bring suit on behalf of the citizens of their states. And ISPs would be able to bring suit to keep unlawful spam off their networks. In all cases, particularly high penalties would be available for true "bad actors"—the shady, high-volume spammers who have no intention of behaving in a lawful and responsible manner.

Our goal here is not to discourage legitimate online communications between businesses and their customers. Senator Burns and I have no intention of interfering with a company's ability to use e-mail to inform customers of warranty information, provide account holders with monthly account statements, and so forth. Rather, we want to go after those unscrupulous individuals who use e-mail in an annoying and misleading fashion. I believe this bill strikes that important balance.

Senator Burns and I have been at this for three years now, and have worked with many different groups in shaping the legislation. We believe we have made real progress in addressing some of the legitimate concerns that were raised about previous versions of the bill. Naturally, there are interested parties who have additional ideas for measures they would like to see. We will be happy to continue to work with them, and I would also point out that the bill calls for a study to evaluate this initial Federal step against spam and to determine whether further provisions are needed. But the bill we are introducing today offers a workable, common-sense approach that should be politically viable this year.

I am pleased that Senators BREAUX, LANDRIEU, SCHUMER, and THOMAS are joining Senator Burns and me in cosponsoring this legislation. I urge the rest of my Senate colleagues to join with us on moving it forward as promptly as possible, so that the Senate won't still be debating the issue, with no action taken, several years from now.