Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, I am a small business owner and merchant who relies solely on the Internet and our website as my business’s primary marketing and advertising engine. I can communicate with new and existing customers on a regular basis for a fraction of the costs of using traditional advertising/marketing media, such as printed catalogs and bulk mailing through the US Postal Service. I fully support your efforts to curb the problem of unsolicited bulk email, of which my own personal email box is filled up with everyday! However, I am deeply concerned about the proposed requirement for honest merchants, such as myself, to maintain suppression lists. There are so many problems and costs associated with this idea, and so much damage done to consumers and businesses alike, that I feel I must urge you to consider this matter most carefully. I maintain an electronic email list for my customers and prospects that have requested information on our products and services, thus requiring the use of suppression lists will seriously impact my ability to cost effectively communicate with my customers who have specifically asked to be added to my email list. Honest Internet merchants, like myself, who maintain an “opt-in” database of customers and prospects who have specially requested to join our email list, are not the type of merchant that 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 my customers, because of the problem of properly knowing their intent when they unsubscribe from a list. In addition, 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 please reconsider its implementation in light of these problems that will plague the many honest merchants who run Internet-based businesses. Respectfully, William J. Maggio New Jersey United States of America