Georgia Introduces Do-Not-E-mail Bill; Unspam PR Names Wrong States

Georgia state lawmakers are considering a bill that would establish a so-called child protection do-not e-mail registry similar to those in effect in Utah and Michigan.

Also, under the so-called Georgia Child, Family and School Communications Protection Act, or SB 425, marketers may be charged as much as $10 per thousand addresses checked to access the state’s registry.

The bill was introduced last week by Republican state Senator Greg Goggans, who claims to have the Georgia Senate’s unanimous support.

“I am very concerned that in this age of technology that it has become too easy for spammers and predators to bombard children with inappropriate adult content,” said Goggans, according to local reports. “My bill will create a registry where parents and schools can register children’s emails in order to ensure that the content they receive is appropriate for their age.”

In related news, Illinois state Rep. Jack Franks is expected to introduce child protection do-not e-mail legislation into the Illinois House of Representatives sometime before Jan. 27, according to a spokeswoman.

Georgia and Illinois are following the lead of Utah and Michigan, which passed child-protection bills establishing do-not-mail registries last year.

The bills allow parents and guardians to register children’s e-mail addresses and other “contact points” as off-limits to e-mail with content or links to content illegal for minors to view or buy. Marketers of such material are supposed scrub their lists against these registries once a month.

Utah charges $5 per thousand addresses screened. Michigan charges $7, and Georgia’s bill sets a ceiling of 1 cent per e-mail, or $10 per thousand addresses checked. It is unclear what the Illinois bill would charge.

Critics contend that as more states consider passing child protection e-mail laws, the resulting steadily rising costs will price anything inappropriate for minors out of e-mail altogether.

Georgia’s bill would allow individuals to sue marketers for $5,000 per e-mail sent in violation, up to $250,000 for each day the violation occurs. It also would make sending e-mail to registered addresses a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and fines of up to $200,000.

According to Trevor Hughes, executive director of the E-mail Sender and Provider Coalition, among the problems with state-by-state child protection e-mail laws is that it is impossible for e-mailers to know everything it is illegal for minors to buy in each state.

“For example, it is illegal to sell model glue to minors in Georgia,” said Hughes. “So a modeling company may just blunder into [violating Georgia’s law] and have issues.”

It is also illegal to sell body piercing to minors in Georgia so a company e-mailing a special on ear piercing may accidentally run afoul of Georgia’s bill if it becomes law, he said.

Illinois bars selling “a public travel conveyance ticket” to a minor without parental consent, said Hughes. “So any ticket for travel basically without parental consent is illegal to sell to minors.”

E-mails concerning violent video games also run the risk of violating child-protection laws, said Hughes.

Critics also contend the registries put an onerous burden on law-abiding marketers, and do little or nothing to protect children. Moreover, the Federal Trade Commission has concluded the registries create lists of children’s addresses that could be vulnerable to pedophiles.

Unspam, the company that manages the registries for Utah and Michigan, said it has security procedures in place, such as seeding its database with dummy addresses, so that it will be immediately apparent if someone starts using the addresses illegally.

Meanwhile, Unspam is, indeed, eyeing four new states for do-not-e-mail registries as reported in Tuesday’s Newsline, but not some of the states identified in a recent press release.

A Jan. 12 press release published by Unspam’s public relations firm, WDC Media, Stonyford, CA, identified Georgia, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois as “prime to pass similar legislation” to so-called child protection laws in Utah and Michigan.

While Illinois is on Unspam’s list of prime targets for new child-protection do-not-e-mail legislation, Georgia, Wisconsin and Minnesota are not, according to Unspam spokeswoman Erin Barry.

The three other states in Unspam’s crosshairs are California, New York and Connecticut, Barry said.

Barry said officials from New York, California and Connecticut called Unspam to discuss the possibility of child-protection do-not-e-mail registries in their states. She would not identify the officials.

Given New York and California’s ability to set the national legislative agenda, the development has far deeper ramifications for e-mailers than would be the case if Georgia, Wisconsin and Minnesota were considering such laws.

When asked how Unspam’s PR firm could confuse Georgia, Wisconsin and Minnesota with New York, California and Connecticut, Barry said, “I have no idea.”