President Bush Tuesday signed legislation to stem the deluge of unsolicited e-mail pitches. The measure establishes the first national standards for commercial e-mail and includes tough civil and criminal penalties.

The so-called Can Spam Act of 2003, sponsored by Sens. Conrad Burns (R-MT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), had passed Congress earlier this month. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2004.

The legislation also encourages the Federal Trade Commission to create a national do-not-e-mail list, similar to its well-received national do-not-call registry, which now totals 56 million registrants.

The “signing of the Can Spam Act is the culmination of over four years of work on this legislation,” Burns said in a statement. “I’m glad to know that today marks a day where Americans will begin to have some muscle against the spammers out there who flood their inboxes each day.”

Burns’ office said that worldwide 13 billion spam messages are sent each day.

The FTC will develop a plan for the creation of a do-not-email list as a means to examine the issue more thoroughly, Howard Beales, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, told Xtra yesterday.

He said the FTC’s concern is whether the list could be enforced.

“The difficulty with spam is that most of it is illegitimate and doesn’t come from people who play by the rules, and there is no easy way to track down where it is coming from” he said.

He added that, unlike the national do-not-call registry where registrants noticed an immediate reduction in calls, he doesn’t believe that would happen with e-mail since enforcement could prove difficult.

The bill requires senders of commercial e-mail to include an enforceable opt-out mechanism, prohibits false and deceptive headers and subject lines and increases monetary damages imposed on spammers who engage in particularly nefarious spamming techniques.

The law is to be enforced by the FTC, state attorneys general and Internet service providers. Fines of up to $250 per email with a cap of $2 million that can be tripled for aggravated violations can be imposed. Criminal provisions in the bill create several tiers of penalties, including up to five years in prison.

The three largest advertising and marketing trade associations—The American Association of Advertising Agencies, The Association of National Advertisers and The Direct Marketing Association—applauded the signing of the bill but cautioned on the do not e-mail list provision.

“Such approaches,” they said, “will do nothing to stem the tide of spam caused by fringe operators who for the most part already break existing laws, yet will impede the use of legitimate e-mail communications by honest, law-abiding companies—especially hurting those with lesser known brands, while also impacting household brands.”

President Bush Tuesday signed legislation to stem the deluge of unsolicited e-mail pitches. The measure establishes the first national standards for commercial e-mail and includes tough civil and criminal penalties.

The so-called Can Spam Act of 2003, sponsored by Sens. Conrad Burns (R-MT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), had passed Congress earlier this month. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2004.

The legislation also encourages the Federal Trade Commission to create a national do-not-e-mail list, similar to its well-received national do-not-call registry, which now totals 56 million registrants.

The “signing of the Can Spam Act is the culmination of over four years of work on this legislation,” Burns said in a statement. “I’m glad to know that today marks a day where Americans will begin to have some muscle against the spammers out there who flood their inboxes each day.”

Burns’ office said that worldwide 13 billion spam messages are sent each day.

The FTC will develop a plan for the creation of a do-not-email list as a means to examine the issue more thoroughly, Howard Beales, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, told Xtra yesterday.

He said the FTC’s concern is whether the list could be enforced.

“The difficulty with spam is that most of it is illegitimate and doesn’t come from people who play by the rules, and there is no easy way to track down where it is coming from” he said.

He added that, unlike the national do-not-call registry where registrants noticed an immediate reduction in calls, he doesn’t believe that would happen with e-mail since enforcement could prove difficult.

The bill requires senders of commercial e-mail to include an enforceable opt-out mechanism, prohibits false and deceptive headers and subject lines and increases monetary damages imposed on spammers who engage in particularly nefarious spamming techniques.

The law is to be enforced by the FTC, state attorneys general and Internet service providers. Fines of up to $250 per email with a cap of $2 million that can be tripled for aggravated violations can be imposed. Criminal provisions in the bill create several tiers of penalties, including up to five years in prison.

The three largest advertising and marketing trade associations—The American Association of Advertising Agencies, The Association of National Advertisers and The Direct Marketing Association—applauded the signing of the bill but cautioned on the do not e-mail list provision.

“Such approaches,” they said, “will do nothing to stem the tide of spam caused by fringe operators who for the most part already break existing laws, yet will impede the use of legitimate e-mail communications by honest, law-abiding companies—especially hurting those with lesser known brands, while also impacting household brands.”