Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To the Commissioners, Everyone recognizes the the need to address the problem of unsolicited commercial email. However, the economic and logistic burden of maintaining "suppression lists" would seriously damage the free flow of commerce on the Internet and could possibly destroy a vital and legitimate new industry. In addition, such a regulation will only serve to place legitimate American-based businesses at a serious disadvantage to foreign competitors who would simply ignore that requirement and move into a position where they could capture the lion's share of revenue generated online. Just as hundreds of thousands of American workers have lost their jobs to Nafta-related factory relocation and thousands more have suffered from foreign "out-sourcing", additional regulations against legitimate online businesses will rob Americans of their right and ability to claim their fair share of the revenue and related profits available online. Many of the same people who watched careers and incomes evaporate as jobs and opportunity migrated overseas have turned to the Internet in an effort to replace those lost incomes. Millions of Baby-Boomers who for whatever reason are facing an uncertain retirement or even the aspect of no retirement at all see the Internet as their "safety net" and are working diligently to close the gap between what they need and what they have. On the Internet millions of physically, economically, and socially disadvantaged Americans have discovered that they can compete and win against "big business" and Internet Marketing has become their version of the American Dream. To force these people to maintain "suppression lists" would be to deny the tremendous power of the Internet to those who need it most... but the harm would fall only on Americans. People in other countries would simply celebrate the removal of American competition in the world of online commerce and our citizens would be left to deal with the loss of millions of dollars of income that today finds its way into grocery stores, mortgage payments, gas stations, and every other facet of our nation's economy. A word to the wise... before you pass any regulation that makes it more difficult to earn an income online, someone should check to make sure we're prepared to handle millions of people all losing a portion or even all of their incomes at the same time. Because whether anyone wants to recogize it or not, our economy has become a three-legged stool and income from the Internet makes up one of those legs. Respectfully, David Gray Tennessee, USA