| Comment Number: | OL-100061 |
| Received: | 8/30/2004 8:44:14 PM |
| Organization: | BMN Inc |
| Commenter: | Dave Anast |
| State: | CA |
| Agency: | Federal Trade Commission |
| Rule: | Definitions, Implementation, and Reporting Requirements Under the CAN-SPAM Act (NPRM) |
| Docket ID: | [3084-AA96] |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
Aug. 30, 2004 Dear Sirs: I have been in publishing 30 years, studied Constitutional law and government for 3 decades (BA/MPA), given speeches and written many columns nationwide. I absolutely believe that the FTC proposal to define commercial email messages, is not only without merit and represents an unwarranted use of taxpayer funds, but that it is totally unconstitutional and without merit. This is particular true for all publishers who use the Internet for any communications whatsoever to clients, nonclients, prospective clients or even perfect strangers. Remember our Constitution??? Congress shall not pass any law infringing the Freedom of the Press? The FTC has NO legal right whatsoever to regulate ANY type of speech, whether it is correctly or incorrectly classified as commercial speech or not. The FTC is wasting everyone's time and money on this issue, in an outrageous and illegal intrusion into the lives of every citizen in the country. The FTC, Federal Government, as well as ALL courts, have NO legal right to enjoin or halt the publication of ANY publications, email or not, in ANY form. There are many many cases that support that bedrock position, as well as multiple sections and clauses in the Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution. I have previously been in court on this exact issue, and there are ample precedents that clearly The FTC has NO legal right to block delivery of ANY email publications or communications whatsoever, whether you feel it is spam or not. Most of the time the FTC does not even correctly define what spam truly is. Allow me to stress that everyone in the U.S. does NOT agree with the FTC. People do NOT require or need the Federal Government to invade their privacy and monitor their email -- or have Internet Service Providers act as their agents to fulfill the same function. That is what anti-spam software is for, if a citizen so desires to block receipt of spam or other objectionable material. Or, citizens can simply hit the DELETE button, or request to be deleted from a distribution list. The FTC's "Big Brother" presence & omnipotence in that process is unneeded and unlawful. We, the Publishers of the United States, do NOT need nor want nor deserve the illegal intrusion of the Federal Government in what is sent or received via email. If the FTC is so worried about scams or criminals attempting to illegally obtain SSI numbers or charge card numbers, you should go after THOSE CRIMINALS and terrorists, not the law-abiding public and publishers nationwide. In a time of multi-hundred billion dollar federal budget deficits, wasting taxpayer's scarce money for such frivilous and outrageous activities is clearly an insane and totally useless endeavor. If the FTC has the staff and budget to monitor email and ILLEGALLY pursue cases of ANY kind against ANY publisher, then your staff size is obviously too large & too ignorant. Prepare to be roasted by every Editorial Page Editor, from the Wall Street Journal & Washington Post, to New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and every daily newspaper, newsletter and journal publisher in between. May I instead suggest that the FTC properly focus its time, money and staff hours on investigating and arresting the con artists and scammers, NOT people and publishers who conduct perfectly legal communications on a daily basis. Do so and you will gain the support of the country and average citizen. Don't do so and practically every daily newspaper, newsletter, magazine and journal publisher in the U.S. will sue the FTC. And of course, the FTC will be publicly vilified and found to have acted unconstitutionally by every court in the U.S. Heck, I'm not an attorney, and even I could win a case like that without legal representation, in less than 1 hour! Hasn't your staff ever read the Bill of Rights & the U.S. Constitution? Obviously, if they had, we would not be having this conversation today. I strongly suggest you save yourself much grief and public embarrassment, and completely withdraw all proposed activities involving email. There are already plenty of laws, federal and local, against committing fraud, identity theft, etc. More unconstitutional regulations that cannot possible be enforced if they were approved, is pointless. Clearly, the FTC would lose any action it would undertake regarding regulating email. According to the CAN-SPAM Act, if it is LEGAL for politicians and religious groups to solicit nonclients for money (talk about commercial messages) or beg for campaign funds, then it is certainly legal and will remain legal, for any publisher to email ANY publication to ANY citizen in the US, whether the FTC likes the contents or not. Do the right thing. Do the prudent thing. Do the Constitutional thing. Drop these proposals today. Sincerely Dave Anast Publisher/Editor/CEO BMN Inc