Comments:

Federal Trade Commission CAN-SPAM Act Post Office Box 1030 Merrifield, VA 22116-1030 Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To Whom It May Concern:: First: I am not an e-merchant nor do I sell or vend merchandise or other items by means of the internet. Neither do I do any commercial soliciting via bulk email. While I applaud all efforts to curb unsolicited bulk email, I am concerned about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain so called “suppression lists”. There are a tremendous number of problems and costs associated with this idea, and the potential for so much damage to consumers and businesses alike, that I am compelled to urge you to consider this matter most carefully. While suppression list requirements will most certainly damage many legitimate publications available on the net my specific concern is for harm to publishers who require permission from a consumer prior to adding them to any list. The legitimate merchants and publishers who use bulk email to communicate with their customers and potential customers are not the target of CAN-SPAM, but this requirement will very likely have the effect of putting these businesses, both large and small, completely out of business. Finally, the potential for significant harm to consumers exists because of the problem of the merchant 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. The problem is not with the legitimate bulk mailer. At the present time 90% of all my spam is from off-shore or foreign servers. The problems this ruling would invoke prompt me to urge, in the strongest possible terms, your reconsideration of its implementation. There has to be a better way. Respectfully, A.H. Betts II Morrow, Georgia USA