From cauce-announce-request@lists.cybernothing.org Sun Jan 31 23:32:38 1999 Received: from unagi.cybernothing.org ([209.133.38.7]:4757 "EHLO unagi.cybernothing.org" ident: "NO-IDENT-SERVICE") by halifax.chebucto.ns.ca with ESMTP id <34722-28969>; Sun, 31 Jan 1999 23:32:15 -0400 Received: (from list@localhost) by unagi.cybernothing.org (8.8.8/8.8.8/9804.17/JDF) id TAA25585; Sun, 31 Jan 1999 19:24:35 -0800 (PST) Resent-Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 19:24:35 -0800 (PST) X-Authentication-Warning: unagi.cybernothing.org: Processed from queue /usr/home/list/.mqueue Date: 31 Jan 1999 22:24:27 -0500 Message-ID: <19990201032427.22941.qmail@ivan.iecc.com> From: John Levine Subject: CAUCE NEWS, Vol 3, No 1, January 1999 To: comments@cauce.org Reply-to: comments@cauce.org Resent-Message-ID: <"e1wKTB.A.tPG.y5Rt2"@unagi.cybernothing.org> Resent-From: cauce-announce@lists.cybernothing.org X-Mailing-List: archive/latest/1 X-Loop: cauce-announce@lists.cauce.org Precedence: list Resent-Sender: cauce-announce-request@lists.cybernothing.org Return-Path: X-Orcpt: rfc822;af380@chebucto.ns.ca Status: RO X-Status: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- CAUCE NEWS Volume 3, Number 1 January, 1999 In this issue: * Two new laws in California * The DMA spam summit * Texas, Washington, Virginia, and Maryland activity * New CAUCE board member * Electronic Mail Abuse Roundtable in March IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHY YOU GOT THIS MESSAGE: Please see the "About This Message" section at the end. - -------------------------------------------------------------- * Two new laws in California The state of California has two new laws about spam that went into effect at the beginning of 1999. CAUCE supported AB 1629, now section 17538.45 of the California Business and Professions code, introduced by Assembly members Gary Miller (who is now in the U.S. House of Representatives) and Jim Cunneen. The law treats spam as a property rights issue, and makes it illegal to send UCE in violation of an e-mail provider's policy, with the right to sue for $50/message in case of violation. The law suggests but does not mandate that a banner such as described in the next item in this newsletter is an appropriate way to announce the policy. This law strengthens the ability of each Internet Service Provider or other e-mail provider within California to establish and enforce its own rules about UCE. Although this bill isn't as simple as the Smith bill in the U.S. House, we believe that the emphasis on property rights is sound, and the bill wisely avoids mandating any particular language in UCE which could create First Amendment problems. An unrelated law, AB 1676, now part of section 17538.4, introduced by Assembly member Debra Bowen also was passed about the same time. It shares many of the same legal and technical problems as last year's Federal HR 3888 -- it mandates tags within the messages, and individual opt-out from by each recipient from each advertiser. CAUCE did not support this bill. - -------------------------------------------------------------- * The DMA spam summit On December 7, representatives from CAUCE were among those attending the recent meeting between members of the anti-spam community and The Direct Marketing Association (DMA). While the anti-spam attendees and the leadership of the DMA were able to agree on some basic principles, there remains disagreement on some important issues. "While a meeting between the anti-spam forces and the DMA is a step in the right direction, we did not expect the DMA to come out in favor of opt-in legislation," said CAUCE Chairman Scott Hazen Mueller. "We are pleased that they will endorse opt-in as a voluntary best practice, but we will nevertheless continue to seek legislation that recognizes property rights and gives recipients a private right of action." CAUCE representatives at the meeting included Board members Ray Everett-Church and John Levine. CAUCE Board member John Mozena attended in his "day job" role as public relations counsel for American Computer Group. In a five-hour meeting, the marketers and anti-spam activists present agreed to: * Support legislation which, at a minimum, prohibits false identification in commercial e-mail; * Acknowledge opt-in as the most successful targeting method for online marketers; By "opt-in," the group agreed on the definition, "the recipient has stated and not rescinded his or her desire to receive the type of mail which you are sending." * Work to create a non-profit global opt-out list, supported by marketers and free to consumers, which allows both business entities and individuals to perform a one-time global opt-out from unsolicited commercial bulk e-mail. "We will work with the DMA and any other organization that promotes opt-in e-mail marketing," said Levine. "However, we will continue to focus on our core mission of drafting and passing effective legislation requiring marketers to get permission before shifting the cost of their advertisements onto the recipient." - -------------------------------------------------------------- * State legislative activity There's been a flurry of activity in state legislatures, with at least four new anti-UCE bills introduced. In mid-December, Texas state Senator Carlos Truan introduced SB 106, a bill that outlaws any unsolicited advertisement if it makes the recipient or service provider "incur a fee, expense, or other damages". This is the first bill that addresses the cost-shifting issue directly. FREE's Mickey Chandler drafted the bill's language. For the current status and language of the bill, visit and search for "SB 106". The Washington state bill, HB 1037, was introduced January 12th by state Reps Bush, Morris and Ruderman. It extends the existing anti-UCE law to make it specifically illegal to violate an ISP's terms of service, to permit a $50/message penalty for UCE sent in violation of and ISP's rules, and instructs the State Attorney General to create a registry of Washington State Internet addresses where people can register voluntarily to notify senders of UCE that they live in Washington. The text of the bill is on-line at ftp://ftp.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/1999-00/house/1025-1049/1037_01121999 The Virginia bill, HB 1668, was introduced last week by Delegate Kenneth R. Plum. The bill is currently mandates tagging and per-recipient opt-out, two techniques that CAUCE opposes. We are working to improve the bill's language. Details are available at . Members who live in Virginia should contact their delegates to let them know that an anti-junk-email bill is a good idea, but not with the current language. In Maryland, Delegate George W. Owings, III introduced HB56, This bill would make it illegal for anyone to send UCE if his provider's published policy forbids it, with penalties similar to those in the Washington bill. The bill's text and current status are at . - -------------------------------------------------------------- * New CAUCE board member David O'Donnell, former Principal Postmaster and Director of Internet Development and Outreach for America Online (AOL), has joined the CAUCE board. O'Donnell, who resigned from AOL in November to pursue academic studies, was named to the CAUCE Board by unanimous vote of its existing members. His addition brings the total number of CAUCE Board members to 10. "David's experience as the former point person for abuse issues at the world's largest Internet provider brings another valuable viewpoint to the CAUCE Board's discussions," explained CAUCE Chair Scott Hazen Mueller. O'Donnell, who lives in Virginia, will work with CAUCE co-founder and counsel Ray Everett-Church to educate legislators and regulators on the problems caused by junk e-mail. "I am honored to have been asked to join CAUCE, and I'm looking forward to making a difference," said O'Donnell. "After being in the trenches of the spam wars for a number of years, I agree wholeheartedly with the CAUCE position that only effective legislation will end the tremendous problems caused by junk e-mail." - -------------------------------------------------------------- * Electronic Mail Abuse Roundtable in March ISP's and other folks attending the second Internet Service Providers' Forum (ISPF) in San Diego are invited to join the Electronic Mail Abuse Roundtable on Saturday, March 5th. This open roundtable is bring presented by CAUCE and the ISP/C, and is sponsored by Critical Path, Inc. For more information, see http://www.emar.org/ and http://www.ispf.com/ , or write to . - -------------------------------------------------------------- About This Message: This message was written and broadcast by the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail. It is copyrighted (c) 1999 by the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail. We encourage redistribution of this message or items from it, as long as they are not spammed anywhere, are on-topic for any forum to which you send them, and include our copyright notice. When in doubt, post the URL of our site (http://www.cauce.org) instead, or put it in your signature. Press, broadcast, and Internet media may treat this material as they would a press release. For other commercial reproduction rights, contact John Levine . ************************************************************************* You have received this message because your address was signed up for the CAUCE-ANNOUNCE mailing list. If you do not want to receive any further messages from this list or were subscribed without your knowledge, please send mail to cauce-announce-request@cauce.org with a subject of "unsubscribe," or contact J.D. Falk to be removed manually. We exist to eradicate unsolicited e-mail, and, unlike spammers, will honor "remove" requests. On the other hand, if a friend passed along this message to you and you would like to receive the CAUCE NEWS in the future, visit the CAUCE web site at http://www.cauce.org to join, or send a message to cauce-announce-request@cauce.org with a subject of "subscribe" if you want to subscribe without joining. ************************************************************************* For other questions or comments about this message, contact John Levine . # # -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBNrUeN2joMcsP+YvJAQEAGAP/X34pI0lGnfMKhw+Jqshlol4tLXVmSJKk mxiirYQCLeMHmf7TKD6o7G50WgE2qvEzRKP/RANP/yuZoMyEdvVSFMZPOJ7wd9GN +/5ogE6mte0SgwpSQiUqG5OGqIyiQdL+SjE0Fp3hS2W8FHI5mJqNOQbg3Bzc/cfI CyQKeabP52M= =nacf -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----