Would the risk of five years in prison stop someone from sending spam? A bill that passed through the US House of Representatives today, and which could see Senate action next week might make that a serious question for senders of unsolicited mail to ponder. Yesterday's House Committee on Energy and Commerce has more details upon what the House version of what the anti-spam legislation will do.
Hopefully, we will leave behind the ill-advised Senate name for their version of the legislation which is S.877, Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 or as it is more commonly referred to, CAN-SPAM). The intent might be to "can" spam, as in throw it away, but the word "can" might also be easily interpreted as "enabling" spam.
Will this federal law regulating spam remove from states the power to do so? States with stricter enforcement, and rights for individuals to persue private enforcement actions. Is the problem that there's too much unregulated spam, or just too much spam in general?
