| Comment Number: | OL-100172 |
| Received: | 9/14/2004 3:24:21 PM |
| Organization: | Coastline Community College |
| Commenter: | Neal Evans |
| 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:
Regarding SPAM... 1) There should be a DO NOT SEND list like the DO NOT CALL list with enforcement provisions. A person should have the same rights the postal service offers regarding junk mail. They provide a form to send to the junk mailer to opt-out and the junk mailer must honor the request 2) Commercial e-mailer (SPAMMERS) should be classified and registered if they send more than a set amount of e-mail per day regardless of its origin. The limit is worldwide if it is targeted to addresses in the U.S. The e-mailer must list the combined e-mail sent from all subsidiares, AKA's or any entity they have a finincial or controlling interest in. 3) Owners of IP addresses should be held accountable for allowing spammers through their network, especially ISP's. Numerous SPAM attacks come from individuals who change their "free" e-mail address every 12-24 hours. ISP's and companies should restrict the amount of e-mail coming from unapproved accounts. Many companies do not demonstrate "due diligence" regarding the security of their networks and allow SPAMMERS to "relay" off of their network computers and servers. 4) No e-mail should be allowed that is composed of a image only. Many SPAMMERS create their advertisement wihtin an image and then send the SPAM as an embedded image with no discernable text. Text should be required in the body so that SPAMMERS can't circumvent anti-spam systems that are scanning for key words or phrases. They should be required to provide a valid name, address and phone number within the body of the e-mail and it must be in text form. Image only e-mails should be permanently blocked. 5) A system needs to be devised to thwart spoofed IP and mail server addresses. As listed in item #3 above, some sort of registration of e-mail sources and a system to check if the sender/source address is valid.This only works if computers and networks are secure and are not easily "hacked" into a SPAM relay. SPAMMERS are parasites and a blight upon the landscape of the Internet. They cost $billions in lost resources and productivity. Their offers are sometimes fraudelent and result in damaging peoples lives. Bottom-line - they provide no discernable benefit and should be considered a threat to the economy of the U.S. SPAMMERS, including fraud, cost more economic loss than earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes combined. Thank you for allowing me a forum to "vent" my disgust of SPAMMERS.