FTC Warns Hawaii

The Federal Trade Commission advised Hawaii last month of the dangers of implementing a so-called child protection do-not-e-mail list.

This is the third time the FTC has publicly come out against do-not-e-mail registries. It issued a report in June 2004 saying a national do-not-e-mail registry is a bad idea. Then last November, it warned Illinois about the idea of a kids’ no-e-mail registry in that state.

And just as in the case of Illinois, the Hawaiian bill that was intended to establish a no-e-mail list in the state is dead.

As a result, it would seem the FTC’s letter to Hawaii addresses a non-threat.

Hawaii’s kids’ no-e-mail bill, SB 2200, died when it failed to meet a March 9 deadline to cross over into the state’s Senate.

However, according to FTC spokesman Frank Dorman, the FTC went ahead with its letter because Hawaii’s bill is technically still alive.

In the letter the FTC once again spelled out the risks of a kids’ no-e-mail registry: It can’t be secured from internal attacks; may increase the likelihood that children’s e-mail addresses could fall into the wrong hands; and would put an unfair and market-chilling burden on law-abiding businesses.

After the FTC published its warning to Illinois, it turned out that State Rep. Jack Franks was getting ready to reintroduce a kids’ no-e-mail bill. Franks later decided the idea of such a registry was fatally flawed and pulled it.

It’s unclear whether a kids’ no-e-mail measure will resurface in Hawaii. However, Carol Fukunaga, the Hawaiian senator to whom the FTC’s letter was addressed, believes one may be proposed next session, said the FTC’s Dorman.

Fukunaga’s office did not return a call for comment by deadline.