NET LEGISLATION
Everyone agrees: Spam sucks. At last estimate, according to the Internet Alliance, unwanted messages accounted for almost a third of all email traffic. Now California is the latest state to declare war. Under a series of new laws in effect this month, spammers whose messages are routed through California-based servers will be required to put labels in the subject line of their messages - "ADV" for advertisements and "ADV:ADLT" for adult content. This will allow email users with filtering software to send junk straight to the trash heap.
The new laws also criminalize the forging of return addresses, require opt-out information for recipients, and grant California's ISPs the ability to enforce their own spam policies. ISPs will be able to sue spammers who violate their terms for civil damages of up to $25,000 per day. Alternatively, some ISPs may choose to charge spammers tolls in exchange for access to servers and subscribers.
Bulk emailers whose messages pass through California will now need to sort through a thicket of conflicting ISP policies, which, some argue, will only push aggressive junk emailers offshore - beyond the state's reach. Meanwhile, free speech advocates and even some antispam activists may challenge the labeling requirements on First Amendment grounds. "Forced labeling has serious constitutional implications," says Ray Everett-Church, cofounder and counsel at the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email. "What's next? Do antiabortion messages have to be labeled too?"
Nevertheless, given California's vast size and tech-savvy population, Assembly member Debra Bowen, who authored one piece of the new legislation, hopes the state's rules will set a nationwide standard. With the FTC fielding 2,000 to 2,500 spam-related complaints per day, she says, "it's better to have a California law than nothing at all."
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