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State Representative Joe Atkins
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4192
For more information contact: Ben Schweigert 651-296-5809
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Representative Atkins Authors Bill to Stop Spam
Seeking to stop the flood of unwanted e-mails into Minnesotans’ inboxes, Rep. Joe Atkins introduced a bipartisan measure that would create stiff criminal penalties for spammers in Minnesota. Other legislators, including Representative Rick Hansen immediately expressed their support.
“The sixth largest spammer in the country is based right here in Minnesota," Rep. Atkins said, “and I think that most Minnesotans would be surprised to learn that there are currently no criminal penalties for this highly offensive nuisance activity. Spammers operate using deceptive and intrusive tactics, and we need to stop it.”
The measure, called the “Minnesota Spam Control Act” would impose tough criminal penalties against the most egregious spammers who use tactics of fraud and deceit to get spam into the e-mail inboxes of online consumers. The bill creates misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor, and felony levels of crime, and imposes jail time and monetary penalties.
The flood of unwanted e-mails accounts for over half of Internet traffic, by some accounts. In addition to annoying consumers, this also imposes significant costs, as providers need to pay for additional capacity in order to accommodate the additional traffic spam creates. This has led Internet service providers (ISPs) to sue spammers under existing laws, but these civil actions have proven ineffective in deterring spam production.
“We all know that these e-mails can be offensive and even obscene,” Rep. Hansen said, “but the worst of it is that we all subsidize this activity through higher costs made necessary by this behavior.”
Media and Internet giant America Online has thrown its support behind the bill. America Online Executive Vice-President and General Counsel Randall Boe said, “Tough, new state anti-spam proposals like the one being supported today can have a tremendous impact as part of a comprehensive, multi-faceted effort that includes a combination of corporate litigation, online industry collaboration, new anti-spam technologies, enhanced tools and features placed at the fingertips of our members, and stronger spam filtering at the e-mail server level.”
The bill outlaws five practices common in the deceptive distribution of spam: first, using another computer as a relay in order to conceal the origin of the spam; second, providing false header information; third, registering for five or more e-mail accounts or two or more Internet domain names using materially false information; fourth, using five or more Internet Protocol addresses to transmit bulk e-mail; and fifth, hacking into another person’s computer and using it to transmit spam. The bill also leaves open the possibility of further suits against spammers by the Attorney General.
If enacted, the Minnesota Spam Control Act would work hand-in-hand with the tough criminal provisions of the new federal law – the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act. It would also give Minnesota residents and officials added enforcement tools to combat spam with criminal and civil penalties. The Minnesota junk e-mail proposal was also crafted and structured in a way that would allow it not to be pre-empted by the new federal anti-spam law.
The Minnesota junk e-mail proposal is an updated version of Virginia’s anti-spam state law, which went into effect on July 1st, 2003, and has already been successfully used by state law enforcement officials to file criminal prosecutions against two spammers widely-known to industry groups and ISPs. Other similar anti-spam laws have been passed in Ohio, Maryland, and New Jersey.
Senator Dan Sparks of Austin is the chief author of the Minnesota Spam Control Act in the Senate. Atkins observed, “The only good Spam comes in a can from Hormel in Senator Sparks’ hometown.”
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