Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, I applaud your efforts to curb the problem of unsolicited bulk email and have noticed some improvment due to your efforts. However, I am concerned about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists. Requirement of the use of suppression lists will seriously damage many of the legitimate publications available on the net. My specific concern is for harm to publishers who require permission from the consumer prior to adding them to any list. I currently have an internet business and know that legitimate businesses on the net do not spam. We only send email to those individuals that have asked to receive our correspondence. All our emails have an opt-out link that will unsubscribe you immediately. Also my (and every legitimate one I’ve seen) server, merchant account and shopping cart service have extremely strict policies regarding opt-in , opt-out and spam. If I violate them I am out! We are not who CAN-SPAM was designed to put out of business, but this requirement will very likely have that effect. There's also the potential for significant harm to consumers, because of the problem of properly knowing their intent when they unsubscribe from a list. On top of that, these suppression lists could easily fall into the hands of spammers, leading to more spam instead of less. I was quite surprised at the potential problems this ruling could involve, and urge you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider its implementation in light of these problems, Please don't put me out of business. Respectfully, Rodney McNeice rmcneice@theouterweb.com Washington State, USA