Legislative Relief - was Re: Motion for a new POST NSF AUP

Mon Oct 16 16:09:34 UTC 1995

On 15 Oct 95 at 15:24, George Herbert wrote:
> Just as a warning, some of us on the recieving end of more than our fair
> share of net abuse (the collected Usenet moderators) are starting to get
> more than a little short fuzed about this.  

I would like to propose that we seek legislative relief from
this ever-increasing problem.  I have spoken with counsel and
now understand what is required to support the enactment of 
federal legislation to prohibit the misuse of electronic mail
and Usenet news by unprincipled "spammers."

There is already law which prohibits marketing via facsimile and
cellular telephone.  My position is that e-mail and Usenet news
are similar vehicles in the sense that there is a measurable
cost on the receiver's end.  I believe that this has the
potential of being a high-visibility legal issue, and one that
would be a "vote getter" as it speaks directly to an educated,
active voting constituency.

I plan on pursuing this with Sen. Edward Markey's office, as he 
is my local legislative representative and chairs the House 
Telecommunications Committee which is responsible for the 
facsimile law, as I understand it.

To do this effectively, such an effort would require certain
financial resources to support things like a state by state
search for existing legislative and the creation of new draft
legislation.

I'll be providing information about this at our booth at 
Internet World at the end of the month and would like to see if 
there is enough support for this project to sponsor it at the 
grassroots.

Please respond to me directly with your thoughts.

	</rr>  

	Robert Raisch, Chief Scientist
	The Internet Company
	96 Sherman Street
	Cambridge, MA  021040

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