[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 138 (Wednesday, October 13, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H9905]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE CAN SPAM ACT OF 1999

  (Mr. GARY MILLER of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GARY MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today 
to address my bill, H.R. 2162, the Can Spam Act. Spam are the millions 
of unsolicited commercial e-mail messages clogging up computer networks 
and the entire information superhighway. Thirty percent of sample is 
pornography. Another 30 percent is get-rich-quick schemes, and much of 
that is targeted towards senior citizens.
  In effect, spam levies a tax on all Internet consumers by causing 
ISPs to spend money on additional bandwidth, hardware, as well as time 
and staff to deal with the bulk commercial e-mails. The increased costs 
are passed on to consumers.
  America Online estimates that 30 percent of their costs are 
associated with spam. This cost is passed onto consumers. That is like 
getting a postage due letter that you do not want and being forced to 
pay for it.
  To combat this problem, I have introduced the Can Spam Act. This bill 
gives ISPs a civil right of action against spammers who violate their 
published policy prohibiting spam. They can litigate for $50 per 
message, up to $25,000 per day for damages. That would also levy 
penalties on spammers who hijack another person's domain name for the 
purpose of sending out unsolicited commercial e-mail.
  We need to defend our constituents and the businesses in our 
districts from commercial advertising.

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