Senator Schumer Discusses Anti-Spam Legislation on CNBC

Are you being flooded by junk e-mail or spam over the Internet? I know I am. So you're not alone. And Congress is considering ways to battle this information superhighway nuisance. New York Senator Charles Schumer is sponsoring one of those anti-spam measures and he joins us from Capitol Hill.

Senator, thanks so much for being with us. Today, we heard that Microsoft has actually joined you in the fight on junk e-mail. How much progress are you making?

Senator CHARLES SCHUMER (Democrat, New York): Yeah, we're making good progress. I think just about everybody now says we have to do something. Even the group that had opposed it in the past, the Direct Marketing Association, is now for it. And we have Microsoft, AOL, everybody. The question is: What to do about it? You know, it's hard. It's hard to find these spammers because of the elusive nature of the Internet, the way it hides people. But the good news here, Gloria, which is really good news: About 90 percent of all spam comes from about 250 issuers. So if you go after them--you have the resources--you go after them, you can really cut down dramatically on spam.

BORGER: So if you know who they are and this gets passed and it becomes illegal, can you just arrest them and that's it?

Sen. SCHUMER: Yes, but you've got to find who they are. They don't just say--they don't put a big sign outside, 'I'm spamming'...

BORGER: Right.

Sen. SCHUMER: ...especially when it becomes illegal. They hide behind other Web sites. One of the big problems--I mentioned this at the hearing today--they could go overseas 'cause the Internet is international. So we really have to not only do a national law but negotiate an international agreement that our law will be a--re--will enable us to reach out to people in other countries. So it's not--it's easier said than done, but it can be done.

ALAN MURRAY, co-host:

Senator, we're going to have one of those spammers join us in just a minute, a non-apologetic spammer, by the way, but let's take a look first at what your bill would do. First of all, you create a no-spam list--people can put their names on it and that would make it illegal to send you spam, correct?

Sen. SCHUMER: Ri--that's right. And that's aimed at those who say, 'Well, lots of people want to get spam.' Well, we say, 'Fine.'

MURRAY: OK.

Sen. SCHUMER: 'If you want it, get it, but if you don't, put your name on the list.' The telemarketing registries have worked very well. You put your name on one of those lists and it's--and the number of phone calls you get when you sit down to dinner dramatically drops.

MURRAY: You would also make it easier to unsubscribe from--from e-mail you don't want to get and you would have big, new penalties, and that's the real meat of this, right?

Sen. SCHUMER: Correct.

MURRAY: Now can--can you get your Republican colleagues to go along with big, new penalties for this kind of...

Sen. SCHUMER: Oh, yes. Yes, and they will go for it. We are getting lots of support and, you know, we're getting support even from the different coalitions. Christian Coalition is looking at supporting us--Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell--'cause so much on the e-mail comes that's pornographic and they're right when they say--I would agree with them and I don't share that many of their views--that children should be shielded from this if a parent wants to shield them from it.

BORGER: But how can you make sure that this is going to work? You have all those sort of do-not-call registries for telemarketers. Some people say it works; some people say it doesn't work. I mean, this is a very complicated process, isn't it?

Sen. SCHUMER: It is, Gloria, although the telemarketing registries generally have worked. We've put our name on in our family. The number of calls we get is dramatically, dramatically dropped. And the thing I would say here is we need a--we need to know there is no one silver bullet. Part of it will be the telemarketing registry. Part of it will be the penalties. Part of it will be requiring them to put ADV whenever they send you spam so you can just erase it, delete it very quickly. It's going to take a comprehensive approach and then it's going to take some dollars so that the law enforcement people can go after the spammers who are violating the law.

MURRAY: All right. But this is a definitional thing in some parts, though. I mean, a lot of this so-called spam is just advertising. Gloria and I work in a business that relies on advertising. It pays our--it--it pays our salaries here. How do you draw the line between legitimate commercial uses of e-mail and illegal spam?

Sen. SCHUMER: Well, that's the beauty of the registry because the only people who would stop getting it are people who don't want to get it, and there is no constitutional right that you have a right to send me advertising. You have a right to advertise, but I also have a right to shut off my television, not look at the billboard, not buy the magazine. Same thing will be done by this registry.

BORGER: Senator Schumer, very quickly, are people really making a lot of money off of spam?

Sen. SCHUMER: Well, that's hard to tell. It's the--it's so easy to send millions and millions of messages, that all you need are a few people who buy the product and you can make some money. Are people becoming multimillionaires? I doubt it.

BORGER: Well, we can hope not.

Sen. SCHUMER: Yeah. Exactly.

BORGER: Senator Schumer, thanks so much for being with us.

Sen. SCHUMER: Thanks, Gloria...

BORGER: Thanks.

Sen. SCHUMER: ...Alan. Nice to be on as always.

MURRAY: Thanks...

BORGER: Thanks.

MURRAY: ...Senator. We'll find out if our next is becoming a millionaire off of spam. He's who anti-spammers call the King of Cajun Spam.