Missouri Mule
11-21-2003, 11:59 PM
House Set to Pass Anti-Spam Bill
Fri Nov 21, 6:46 PM ET Add Technology - Internet Report to My Yahoo!
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives stood poised on Friday to outlaw most Internet spam and create a "do-not-spam" registry for those who do not wish to receive unsolicited junk e-mail.
In debate on the House floor, lawmakers from both parties praised a compromise bill that would set jail time and multimillion dollar fines for online marketers who flood e-mail inboxes with pornography and get-rich-quick schemes...
"There's so many good things in this bill, it's hard to go over them all in a few minutes," said Texas Democratic Rep. Gene Green.
A final vote was expected later in the evening. The Senate unanimously passed a similar bill last month.
Anti-spam bills have died in Congress for six years while unsolicited commercial e-mail has grown from a nuisance to a plague that threatens to derail the Internet's most popular means of communication.
Spam now makes up more than half of all e-mail, according to several surveys, and even online marketers have come to support some restrictions.
(SNIP)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=575&u=/nm/20031121/wr_nm/tech_spam_congress_dc_12&printer=1
Fri Nov 21, 6:46 PM ET Add Technology - Internet Report to My Yahoo!
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives stood poised on Friday to outlaw most Internet spam and create a "do-not-spam" registry for those who do not wish to receive unsolicited junk e-mail.
In debate on the House floor, lawmakers from both parties praised a compromise bill that would set jail time and multimillion dollar fines for online marketers who flood e-mail inboxes with pornography and get-rich-quick schemes...
"There's so many good things in this bill, it's hard to go over them all in a few minutes," said Texas Democratic Rep. Gene Green.
A final vote was expected later in the evening. The Senate unanimously passed a similar bill last month.
Anti-spam bills have died in Congress for six years while unsolicited commercial e-mail has grown from a nuisance to a plague that threatens to derail the Internet's most popular means of communication.
Spam now makes up more than half of all e-mail, according to several surveys, and even online marketers have come to support some restrictions.
(SNIP)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=575&u=/nm/20031121/wr_nm/tech_spam_congress_dc_12&printer=1