Senate Passes Hatch-Leahy Criminal
Penalties
For Worst Internet Spammers
. . . Bipartisan Legislation Creates Federal Crime Prohibiting
Predatory and Abusive Commercial E-mail
WASHINGTON (Wed., Oct. 22) – The Senate Wednesday afternoon
approved by voice vote legislation that would create criminal
penalties to curb the technological menace clogging America’s
in-boxes -- Internet spam.
The legislation was
adopted as an amendment to the Controlling the Assault of
Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act or CAN Spam Act of 2003
(S.877).
Sens. Orrin Hatch
(R-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the panel’s chairman and ranking
Democratic member, authored and introduced the Criminal Spam Act
earlier this summer. The amendment approved Wednesday, drawn from
the Hatch-Leahy bill, is also co-sponsored by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.),
Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa).
The legislation
targets the pernicious problem of spam at its source by zeroing in
on the most egregious offenders: Those who hijack computer systems
or use other fraudulent means to send junk commercial e-mail.
“Spam is a serious
problem that threatens to undermine the vast potential of the
Internet to foster the free exchange of information and commerce,”
said Leahy. “Our legislation targets the principal techniques that
spammers use to evade filtering software and cover their tracks.
Ridding America’s inboxes of deceptively delivered spam would go a
long way toward clearing our electronic channels for Internet users
from coast-to-coast.”
Internet Service
Providers and employers have taken numerous and costly steps to
shield customers and employees from the billions of spam launched
against them each day, but the spammers are winning the battle. A
recent study by Ferris Research estimates that spam costs U.S.
businesses $8.9 billion annually as a result of lost productivity
and the need to purchase more powerful servers and additional
equipment and software.
Spam is also fertile
ground for deceptive trade practices. The FTC has estimated that 96
percent of the spam involving investment and business opportunities,
and nearly half of the spam advertising health services and
products, and travel and leisure, contains false or misleading
information.
The repercussions
from spam are more than just financial. Such junk e-mail may
introduce viruses, worms, and destructive programs into personal and
business computer systems, including those that support our national
infrastructure.
Leahy, sometimes
known as ‘the cyber senator’ for his enthusiasm for and leadership
on Internet issues, said, “I have often said that the government
should regulate the Internet only when absolutely necessary.
Unfortunately, spammers have made this one of those times.”
The Hatch-Leahy
Amendment includes the following provisions:
- Makes it a
crime to hack into a computer, or to use a computer system that
the owner has made available for other purposes, as a conduit for
bulk commercial e-mail;
-
Prohibits sending bulk commercial e-mail that either falsifies the
source, destination or routing information associated with the
e-mail, or is generated from hijacked Internet address space or
falsely registered e-mail accounts or domain names;
-
Subjects violators to stiff criminal penalties of up to five
years’ imprisonment where the offense is committed in furtherance
of any felony, or where the defendant has previously been
convicted of a similar federal or state offense, and up to three
years’ imprisonment where other aggravating factors exist.
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