1111 19th Street, NW, Suite 1180 Washington, D.C. 20036 Tel: 202-861-2476 Cell: 202-329-0017 Email: emilyh@internetalliance.org Web: www.internetalliance.org

September 23, 2003

Senator Jacob Corman, Chair
Communications and Technology Committee
Pennsylvania Senate
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Dear Senator Corman:

My name is Emily Hackett and I am the state policy director of the Internet Alliance (IA). I am unable to attend today’s committee hearing regarding SB 885, the No Email List bill. I appreciate the committee’s interest in this important issue, but ask that you not advance SB 885. Instead, I urge you to work with industry to find effective solutions to the problems created by unsolicited commercial email.

By way of introduction, the IA is the leading Internet trade association operating in the states. The IA represents Internet companies making up the entire email channel from marketers, to content providers, to ISPs and consumers. Leading members of the IA include: Time Warner, Comcast, Experian, IBM, eBay, SBC, Topica, TRUSTe, VeriSign and others.

Internet Alliance members share the legitimate concerns many legislators have about the annoying spam consumers find in their email inbox. We support many sections of SB 885, particularly those targeting fraudulent activities by lawless spammers who prey on and deceive consumers. We support prohibitions on the use of a false transmission path and a ban on the use of a third party’s domain name without consent. We support prohibitions on the use of a false or misleading subject line

A No Email List will not work, could increase the amount of spam appearing in your in box and ultimately deceive consumers. Spammers are not scientific marketers. They do not generally work from lists. They simply use a computer to create endless email addresses directed at a given domain name and market to those accounts. They have no way of knowing if an account is real. The creation of a Do Not Email List tells spammers an email address is real and would defacto ensure that Pennsylvania residents get more spam, not less (see attached article). This very issue was discussed during the 2003 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) forum regarding spam. In August, FTC Commissioner Timothy Muris told consumers (see attached article) not to "waste their time" signing up for a national Do Not Email List. Muris believes this type of legislation would be impossible to enforce since most of the offensive and fraudulent spam contains false or hidden identities.

Customers would be deceived into believing the list would offer protection, when in fact their exposure to spam may actually increase. More meaningful technological solutions exist that can keep spam and bulk mail from ever reaching a consumer’s inbox.

The best way to control spam is to educate consumers to use the technology that exists to divert or block it. Email services like Yahoo Mail and Hotmail offer free institutional filters that automatically divert spam and bulk mail away from your inbox and place it in a bulk mailbox.

You never need to see or open this unwanted email. If you ignore it, it remains in your bulk email box and is automatically deleted.

Other email services, like Microsoft Outlook, will automatically highlight spam and bulk mail in a different color so you can delete it without even looking at the subject line. All services allow you to install personal filters built into your email browser that let you automatically delete spam and bulk mail by keywords, by sender or by address. These systems give the consumer an easy way to banish spam and bulk mail from their inbox with NO cost to the state or any consumer.

There are things that can be done legislatively that will help consumers concerned about spam. Internet service providers (ISPs) should be given the ability to sue and recover attorney's fees from businesses that break the laws that make offensive or fraudulent email illegal. The ISP needs legal tools to help keep commercial email traffic free of these objectionable materials.

Additionally, police and prosecutors need additional tools, training and funding to investigate, identify and prosecute cyber criminals. The Internet industry is available to help train law enforcement on the technology and help consumers protect themselves from illegal email operators.

Thank you for taking time to review our position. Again, I ask that the committee not advance SB 885. Please let me know if you would like to meet with me, or one of my members, to discuss these issues further.

Sincerely,

Emily Hackett

cc: Senate Communications and Technology Committee