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US authorities ask for anti-spam laws
12-06-2003
by Andrew McLindon
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has called for American lawmakers to give it enhanced powers to combat the growing menace of spam.
FTC Commissioners outlined several legislative recommendations to two congressional subcommittees on Wednesday that they said would improve the Commission's ability to tackle unwanted commercial e-mail.
It is believed that spam now accounts for nearly half of all e-mails received, which is costing US businesses an estimated USD10 billion each year in lost productivity. Although American politicians have been slow to do anything to inhibit spam, this appears to be changing and tougher anti-spam laws are expected shortly.
The FTC called for a range of measures to be enacted in order to make its job of cracking down on spam easier. These included the extension of telemarketing laws to cover spam, the loosening of disclosure laws, and giving it the authority to work closer with foreign agencies to track down spammers outside of the FTC's jurisdiction.
"We are losing the battle, which is why it is going to take a multifaceted approach," FTC chairman Timothy Muris, told the Senate Competition subcommittee. "I have never seen a consumer protection problem this difficult." The FTC said that spam had become "the weapon of choice for those engaged in fraud and deception" and that it could cripple e-mail.
The FTC has managed to prosecute around 50 spammers over the last few years under current anti-fraud laws, but said it needed more powers for there to be increased prosecutions and convictions.
One of the main changes called for by the FTC was for the Telemarketing Act to be amended. It wanted new provisions in the Act that would allow it to adopt rules addressing deceptive and abusive practices in relation to the sending of spam, and enable it to address any breaches of these rules by e-mail marketers. Doing so, said the FTC, would mean that just as with any other telemarketing activity covered by the Act, e-mail marketers who fall foul of it would face actions in federal district courts.
In addition, the FTC wants e-mail marketers to be required to describe their products honestly and abide by requests from receivers to be taken off their contact lists. Criminal penalties should also be looked at for those falsify their return addresses, advised the Commission.
The FTC also called for its investigators to be allowed to examine potential spammers' bank accounts for a limited period without telling them. It said this was necessary because those who believe they are under scrutiny often try and hide their assets.
A "clarification" of the Electronics Communications Privacy Act was required, said the FTC, to allow it to obtain spam complaints received by ISPs and to give it greater scope to tackle spammers who hijack a bonafide customer's e-mail account to send spam.
However, some of these changes are likely to weaken privacy safeguards and could even allow foreign governments to pursue US citizens who violate their laws, warned Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre.
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