Comments:

To the Commissioners, We are writing to express our FEARS and CONCERNS about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists. While we fully support your efforts to curb the problem of UNSOLICITED BULK EMAIL we feel this PARTICULAR RULE will seriously and possibly FATALLY DAMAGE the LEGITIMATE USE of email as a BONA FIDE means of communication especially for small home-based businesses. CAN-SPAM was designed to counteract the ABUSE by a relatively few but significant number of major players in bulk email who were largely responsible for the millions and millions of unwanted emails on a daily basis. The implementation of this rule will affect ALL small businesses which use email and DO NOTHING to put out of business the very people responsible for the abuse because they are based mainly offshore. The required use of suppression lists will seriously damage many of the legitimate publications available on the Internet. Our concerns are: for harm to publishers who require permission from the consumer prior to adding them to any list; the potential for significant harm to consumers because of the problem of properly knowing their intent when they un-subscribe from a list; these suppression lists could easily fall into the hands of spammers leading to MORE SPAM instead of less. There are so many problems and costs associated with this idea and so much potential for damage to consumers and businesses alike, that we feel we must urge you in the STRONGEST POSSIBLE TERMS to reconsider this ruling most carefully. We will continue to support your efforts to stop the spammers. But please, ABANDON THIS PARTICULAR RULING before it's too late. With respect, R F Curtis *REDACTED PERSONAL INFORMATION* United Kingdom