Comments:

Obviously unsolicited bulk email/spam needs to be brought under control, however, I think the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists will create further problems. I urge you to consider this matter very carefully as I think it will have greater effects on legitimate businesses than on large scale spammers. Where a legitimate business relies on many affiliates I can see the proposed requirements becoming too impractical and costly to implement thus forcing many compliant people out of business. On the other hand large scale spammers who operate from countries where prosecution would be difficult would continue to operate. The requirement to use suppression lists will create a heavy burden for the many legitimate publications available on the Internet. Potentially there could be significant privacy issues for consumers. If suppression lists were to fall into the hands of spammers it could lead to more spam instead of less. In view of the potential problems this ruling could cause I urge you to reconsider its implementation. Respectfully Barry Miller Queensland Australia