Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, I applaud your efforts to curb the serious problem of unsolicited bulk email, which is growing by the day. However, I am concerned about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists. There are so many practical problems associated with this idea (to say nothing of the costs) and so much damage done to consumers and businesses alike, that I must urge you to consider this matter most carefully. Requiring the use of suppression lists will seriously damage many of the legitimate publications available on the net. My specific concern realtes to harm caused to publishers who already specifically request confirmed permission from the consumer prior to adding them to a mailing list. This practise avoids problems caused by people being maliciously subscribed to publications they have not requested and in which they have no interest. These are not the people who the CAN-SPAM Act is 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. Often people unsubscribe because they've lost interest in the subject of that particular publication, or possibly because they want to get that publication at a different e-mail address, not because they don't want ANY e-mailed publications. 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 when I began to appreciate the potential problems this ruling could involve, and urge you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider its implementation in view of these problems. Yours respectfully, Alistair Knox Reading RG5 4AW United Kingdom