Bill Would Ban Spam E-Mail in California
The unwanted, sometimes lurid advertisements unleashed on computer users -- e-mail spam -- would be banned under a new bill in the Legislature.
The bill would make it a crime to send unsolicited commercial e-mails from California or to an e-mail address in the state. People who received such spam -- “Miniature Remote Control Car -- Great Gift!” or “Lose 32 Pounds by Easter” -- could sue for at least $500 per violation.
“Spam isn’t just annoying,” said Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey), the bill’s author. “It burns people’s time and money by forcing them to wade through millions of messages that cost spammers virtually nothing to package and fire off.”
But office workers weary of drumming the computer delete button each morning should not assume that Bowen’s bill will halt junk e-mail, experts say.
That’s because so much spam is sent from outside the country and includes false return addresses. Sometimes, experts say, spammers will hijack a company’s mail-sending capability and use it to route their spam around the world.
“Spam is not going to be stopped through legislation,” said Jared Blank, a senior analyst with Jupiter Research in New York. “Somebody sitting in China sending you e-mails about Viagra is not going to care what California’s rules are.”
Blank conducted a study released in September that found the average amount of spam a computer user gets each day nearly doubled between 2001 and 2002, from 3.7 to 6.2 items. Overall, according to Jupiter, the number of e-mail spam messages received in the U.S. jumped 86% between 2001 and 2002, from 140 billion to 261 billion.
Software Solution
Technology, not lawmakers, will ultimately kill the spam industry, said Marten Nelson, an analyst with Ferris Research, a San Francisco market and technology research firm.
An “arms race” exists between spammers and the companies that sell software to block unsolicited e-mails, said Nelson, who predicted victory for the anti-spam vendors.
In some ways, he said, the unsolicited e-mails are like computer viruses. Just a few years ago, viruses ranked as a top concern of corporate computer managers. But companies have since installed multiple layers of antiviral software that has largely blocked the codes that can disrupt or destroy computer functions.
“You can infect computers with viruses in millions of ways,” said Nelson. “Spam can be sent only through e-mail or a messaging application, and those are well-defined.”
Eventually, he said, the barrage of unwanted Internet advertisements will slow because the senders will have more and more of their e-mails blocked and stop making money. Within five years, Nelson predicted, the problem will be under control.
Bowen said she is under no illusion that her bill will end a blitz of computer advertising. But waiting for technology to catch up isn’t working, she said, and Congress has yet to pass a nationwide ban.
“The spam problem is getting exponentially worse, not better,” Bowen said, “despite all the ads for ‘foolproof’ spam filters.”
Her bill “gives people the ability and the incentive to go after spammers on their own,” she said, “without having to rely solely on technology or the district attorney to try to solve the problem.”
Bowen wrote California’s first law to restrict e-mail spam, a 1998 measure that required senders of unsolicited commercial e-mails to include “ADV” or “ADV:ADLT” in the subject heading, for “advertising” or “adult advertising.” It also required senders to include a toll-free phone number or valid return e-mail through which people could ask for a halt to the messages. Companies that ignored such requests would face a $1,000 fine. Local and state prosecutors are responsible for enforcing the law.
The law has been widely ignored and counterproductive, said Louis Mastria, director of public affairs for the Direct Marketing Assn., which represents 5,000 firms that advertise through catalogs, mail, telephone marketing, e-mail and other means.
Anti-spam filters often block the ads sent by legitimate companies that follow the law and label their e-mails with “ADV,” he said. “What’s left in your mailbox,” Mastria said, “is 100% filtered, unadulterated spam.”
He called Bowen’s new bill impractical, because a Californian can receive e-mail anywhere. His organization favors federal legislation that requires the senders of unsolicited e-mails to give consumers a way to “opt out” of getting more such computer mail.
Consumer groups prefer a tougher measure, saying spammers shouldn’t be allowed to send even a single e-mail advertisement without prior permission from a consumer.
“The new Bowen legislation is a good approach,” said Ray Everett-Church, co-founder of the volunteer organization Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail. “It recognizes that the prior approach of ‘opt out’ really hasn’t worked.”
Better yet, he said, would be a national version of Bowen’s law. Congress has debated such measures since 1997, but has yet to pass a law to restrict unsolicited e-mails.
“At some point in the day,” said Everett-Church, “you’ve got to be able to go to somebody who’s hurting you and hold them accountable. Technology won’t hold them accountable, but the law will.”
Spam Suit Pending
Just once has Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer moved to enforce California’s existing anti-spam law. Last September, he sued PW Marketing of Los Angeles for allegedly sending millions of advertisements promoting books, software and lists of e-mail addresses that can be used to make money through spamming.
The case is pending in Santa Clara County Superior Court.
Lockyer has asked Californians to help him prosecute spammers by forwarding illegal e-mails. A complaint form is available online at www.ag.ca.gov/ consumers/mailform.htm or by writing the Public Inquiry Unit at P.O. Box 944255, Sacramento, CA 94244-2550.
