Update: Senator argues people want antispam registry

Trying to drum up support for his antispam legislation, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer released survey results Wednesday showing that 74 percent of U.S. Internet users want a national do-not-spam registry.

Schumer, a New York Democrat, introduced his Stop Pornography and Abusive Marketing (SPAM) Act in June, and the bill includes a national do-not-spam registry, similar to the national do-not-call list that 28 million U.S. residents have signed up for since late June. But Schumer's bill has not received a hearing before the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and staff at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have expressed concerns that a do-not-spam list would be more difficult to administer than the telemarketing list.

Schumer said Wednesday that another antispam bill, the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act, may get a vote on the Senate floor before summer recess begins Aug. 4. If the Senate does not take up his legislation, Schumer promised to offer an amendment to CAN-SPAM.

"I have good support for an amendment," Schumer said. "We have lots of different people supporting it, and best, the American public supports it. Usually, that works around here."

Schumer and Vincent Schiavone, president and chief executive officer of the ePrivacy Group, released results of a survey Schiavone's company and the Ponemon Institute did in mid-July. The Web-based survey of 1,093 U.S. Internet users found 74 percent supported a national do-not-spam list, 79 percent agreed that unwanted e-mail should be banned or limited by law, and 59 percent said spammers should be punished.

"The support for a federal no-spam list is strong enough, I don't think the public is going to be sympathetic to claims it's hard to do," Schumer said. "Americans want a solution to the spam plague that has teeth, they don't want halfway measures. To my colleagues in the Senate, some of whom are lukewarm to our proposal, I say, 'Pay attention, the American public is making its views known.'"

FTC staffers have argued that a do-not-spam list would be difficult to keep track of because of the sheer number of e-mail addresses people own and because e-mail addresses change frequently. FTC staffers have also questioned whether a national do-not-spam list would be tough to secure and be used by spammers to send more unwanted e-mail, but Schumer said Wednesday his staff and the FTC were working through that concern. An FTC spokeswoman wasn't immediately available for comment.

On Monday, the Direct Marketing Association issued an alert asking its members to convince Schumer that a do-not-spam list is the wrong tactic in fighting spam. The group has argued that an e-mail registry would only hurt legitimate e-mail marketers who obey the rules, while rogue spammers would continue sending spam.

The do-not-spam registry would do little to lower the amount of spam people receive because legitimate marketers who would honor the list already don't send the majority of spam, said Louis Mastria, director of public and international affairs for the association.

"The reality is a do-not-e-mail list would go after legitimate marketers who have a product to market," Mastria said. "The spammers won't pay any attention to it."