Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners: I wholeheartedly applaud your efforts to curtail the problem of unsolicited bulk e-mail! I am also highly concerned and alarmed about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists. There are many potentially dangerous repercussions associated with this idea; primarily that the very manpower and resources leeched from micro business owners and sole proprietorships who attempt to adhere to this policy could put most of them out of business. Especially those without the budget to hire employees, contractors, or other outside help. Requiring the use of suppression lists is quite likely to seriously cripple many legitimate publications on the Internet. I am most concerned about those run by publishers like myself who already require permission -- through double opt-in subscription methods -- from the consumer prior to ever adding them to any list. And yet, still there exists the potential for further annoyance to online consumers as the suppression lists themselves possibly fall into the hands of spammers ... leading to more spam instead of less. Ironically and unfortunately, spammers are fond of spamming consumers with offers to buy products intended to help ID them of spam. I implore you to please carefully consider this issue from every possible perspective -- those of large corporations, small "Mom and Pop" shops, AND one-man businesses -- before making your ruling. I also feel that rewarding consumers for reporting spam will be equally as detrimental, as this leaves it too open for dishonest *consumers* to come forward and abuse the system by fraudulently reporting supposed spam to receive the "reward". My online business income is used to help support my family, and has served me well in an otherwise unstable economy. I am very alarmed at the debilitating effects such a CAN-SPAM ruling, as it is currently proposed, can have on honest Internet businesses. Please consider the points I have proposed to take into account the livelihood of sole proprietorships and other micro businesses online, and please move to reconsider the terms of this act. I fully support the written presentation earlier submitted by the International Council of Online Professionals as a solid alternative. I sincerely appreciate being given the opportunity to voice my concerns before a ruling was put into effect, and thank you very much in advance for treating this very serious issue with the gravity it deserves. Respectfully, HARMONY MAJOR Blown Cover Marketing *REDACTED PERSONAL INFORMATION*