The Telecommunications Research and Action Center (TRAC) applauds President Bush's signing of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN SPAM Act), saying the law is a good first step in the fight against spam e-mail, but that aggressive enforcement is essential.

"We are very pleased that the President has seen fit to sign this landmark anti-spam legislation," said TRAC Chairman Sam Simon. "We share concerns that the Act has loopholes and may not work. We believe, however, that 'something is better than nothing.'

Simon added, "The test will be if this law reduces spam. The administration, the FTC and Congress must be committed to aggressive enforcement. If the worst fears about this law are realized, and instead of spam being reduced it increases, there will be an even greater public outcry and Congress will have to act more aggressively." Said Simon, "TRAC will continue to be involved in FTC's rulemaking process, which will promulgate guidelines for FTC's enactment and enforcement of the Act."

TRAC has been very active in getting federal anti-spam legislation enacted. In April 2003, TRAC Chairman Simon testified on behalf of consumers at the FTC's public Spam Forum. In addition, TRAC joined with Consumer Action and the National Consumers League in September 2003 to launch its "Ban the Spam" campaign which resulted in a petition to the FTC requesting that unsolicited commercial email be considered an "unfair and deceptive trade practice" as it causes harm to consumers. The campaign's website, http://www.banthespam.org, has generated more than 4,400 consumer stories to date detailing how spam has affected Internet users' online experience. Many of these narratives were included in an October 2003 study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project detailing the negative effects of spam on the Internet.

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