Dear Congressman David Bonior,
Every day I receive many many unwanted unsolicited pieces of e-mail. Much of this e-mail is injected into the Internet e-mail system by illegal means causing economic harm to Internet Service Providers (ISP's) and end users alike. I have to waste my time filtering through dozens of junk e-mail's daily. That's reducing my productivity. Multiple this my millions of people and you can see an enormous amount of man power is wasted daily by these e-mail SPAMMERS and SCAMMERS. ISP's and other organizations that have fallen victim to an e-mail SPAMMER end up spending many hours, sometimes days cleaning up after an e-mail SPAMMER has used their equipment to inject their SPAM & SCAM e-mail into the Internet.
I am sick and tired of these people who feel they can abuse the system and get away with it... It is about time something is done about this. What got my goat today was a piece of e-mail that had a falsified return address and was soliciting a FAX copy of "your check" in order to fulfill the order... Sounds like SCAM mail to me.
I for one do not normally endorse any type of regulation on free trade but maybe the time is now for something to be done. I propose that any individual or organization that wishes to use Internet e-mail to promote their products be legally forced to adhere to a minimal set of standards.
- They must not use a falsified return e-mail address
- They must have a active e-mail address for removal requests
- Any removal requests must be honored and acknowledged within 3 business days under penalty of law
- Their e-mail must clearly state that it is an "advertisement"
- Upon request, they must disclose the means by which they got your e-mail address and how to contact the list provider.
- They must obtain an federally issued "Internet Advertising License" and disclose the license number when advertising
- They must obtain the written permission of the ISP they access the Internet through in order to send advertising over their ISP's Internet connection. Failure to do so, the ISP should be allowed to collect damages of 1 cent per e-mail address sent to or actual damages which ever is higher plus collection and attorney fees as necessary. As most e-mail crosses state boundaries and sometimes international boundaries, federal enforcement should be available to the ISP.
The "Internet Advertising License" should be federally issued for a token fee of $100 per year. The information publicly disclosed on the license should include a legal contact name, business address, and a valid contact phone number. Additional information that should be made available to law enforcement should include Driver License Number, Social Security Number, Home Address & Phone Number. The license form should also be Notarized to reduce the quantity of falsified documents.
Repeat violation of any of the above should exact financial & criminal penalties and confiscation of the SPAMMER's equipment that originated the e-mail (Not the ISP's equipment, just the SPAMMERS).
International treaties could also be drafted that would extend the advertising regulations to other participating countries. Those countries that refuse to be signers on the treaties and who later are found to be creators of measurable amount of SPAM mail could have their Internet access restricted from entering Treaty signing counties. Sort of like an embargo...
As Truth in Advertising laws and mail order fraud regulations from the Post Office seem powerless to stop this trend, maybe legislation is needed.
The time to act is now - before it is too late to act.
David Barker
President
Electrosonics, Inc.
17150 15 Mile Road
Fraser, MI 48026