FTC Chief Expresses Doubts Over Do Not Spam List

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

16 March 2004

Speaking last Thursday at a conference sponsored by the Consumer Federation of America, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Timothy Muris expressed doubts about the planned creation of a "Do Not Spam" list.

The CAN SPAM Act, which came into force in January, proposed the creation of a service similar to the FTC's 'Do Not Call' list, which is designed to prevent unsolicited commercial telephone calls. The Commission is expected to produce a report on the logistics of such an undertaking by June.

However, Mr Muris told those attending the CFA conference that he still has concerns regarding the enforcement of such a list, explaining that the real difficulty lies in tracking spammers, who often operate overseas, concealing their identities by routing spam through hacked computers.

"The beauty of the internet, of course, is that you can e-mail anybody, anywhere in the world. The bane of the internet is that anybody, anywhere in the world, can e-mail you," he observed.

The FTC chairman went on to suggest that other anti-spam proposals, such as the introduction of a small fee to send e-mails, may need to be looked into.

"It may come to that, and the system has some attraction," he told delegates. However, he added that: "I hope we don't have to resort to a system that requires major changes."

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