President Signs Hatch-Leahy Bill Targeting Worst Internet Spammers

       . . .  New Criminal Penalties Imposed for Predatory and Abusive Commercial E-Mail

WASHINGTON (Tues., Dec., 16) – The President signed into law Tuesday pioneering legislation co-authored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that creates the first-ever set of criminal penalties for the most egregious spammers responsible for clogging America’s inboxes with unsolicited e-mails.

The legislation is part of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, or CAN SPAM Act of 2003 (S.877).  The Senate passed the bill last month. The House approved it last week.

Leahy co-authored the Criminal Spam Act – the anti-spam criminal penalties section of the bill -- with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Leahy is the panel’s ranking Democratic member.  The Hatch-Leahy bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.).

“This is an important step in the fight against junk commercial e-mail by targeting one of the sources of the problem --  those spammers who hijack computer systems or use other fraudulent means to carry out their misdeeds,” said Leahy, known as ‘the cyber senator’ for his enthusiasm for and leadership on Internet issues.

“Spam clogs the Internet’s arteries and hampers its usefulness,” he said.  “Spam is much more than a technological nuisance.  It undermines the vast potential of the Internet to foster the free exchange of information and commerce,” he said. “Now, for the first time we will have tools that target the principal tricks that spammers use to evade filtering software and to cover their tracks.” 

Internet Service Providers and employers have been forced to take many costly steps to shield customers and employees from the billions of spam messages launched against them each day.  But spammers continue to make inroads into personal and business computers nationwide.  A recent study by Ferris Research estimates that spam costs U.S. businesses $8.9 billion annually in lost productivity and in the need to purchase more powerful servers and additional equipment and software.

Spam is also a tool of choice for those engaging in deceptive trade practices. The Federal Trade Commission has estimated that 90 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.

Leahy’s contribution to the CAN SPAM Act is one of many ways he has targeted aggressive and predatory business conduct. Last year, Leahy was the principal author of the Corporate and Criminal Fraud and Accountability Act provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Leahy’s legislation put into effect an array of new provisions in response to a disturbing upward trend in corporate greed and deceit in the investing marketplace. 

A former prosecutor, Leahy said, “Where the Internet is concerned, the government should step in only when absolutely necessary.  Unfortunately, spammers have made this such a time.”

The fallout from spam is broader than just financial consequences. Junk e-mail and other spam can introduce viruses, worms, and destructive programs into personal and business computer systems, including those that support the nation’s critical infrastructure.

The Hatch-Leahy legislation:

§         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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