Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, I applaud your efforts to curb the problem of unsolicited bulk email. However, I am concerned about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists. I urge you to consider this carefully. The costs involved would, in my opinion, be prohibitive for small business owners/operators and legitimate informational sites utilizing email for the purpose of communication and marketing via responsible opt-in subscription. 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. They're not who CAN-SPAM was designed to put out of business, but this requirement will very likely have that effect. Responsible management of opt-in lists include honoring privacy issues for subscribers and are not aligned with the intent of spammers who've prompted this legistation. 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. Let's not violate the privacy of opt-in users who simply choose no longer to receive an email publication, but do not want their decision to affect other opt-in opportunities, including their currently subscribed to choices. 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, Respectfully, Tom Gilbert New Mexico, United States