Should netizens everywhere have a voice in US spam legislation? Pete Hampton, who set up an online referendum on two US bills aimed at controlling electronic junk mail, thinks so.
"I think people on the Web want regulation, but not from the US government," said Hampton, president of the InterGOV Web site. "Jurisdictionally it doesn't make sense for the US to regulate a global medium."
The site offers Internet users worldwide the chance to vote on antispam legislation proposed by Senator Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Representative Chris Smith (R-New Jersey). The bills differ in that Murkowski's would require senders to label junk email as advertisements so that service providers could filter unwanted messages before they're transmitted to end users. Smith's bill would extend a federal prohibition on junk faxes to cover commercial email.
The poll opened shortly after Smith's bill was announced in mid-May. Hampton estimated Tuesday that about 100,000 votes have been registered, and the count is running 8 to 1 against both bills.
"Of course, it's unclear whether either politician will care about the vote," he said. "After all, these people aren't necessarily US citizens."
Nonetheless, Hampton said Murkowski has requested the results, which the site takes pains to ensure are as accurate as the Web - a notoriously suspect polling place - allows.
