[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 177 (Monday, December 15, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2555]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONTROLLING THE ASSAULT OF NON-SOLICITED PORNOGRAPHY AND MARKET ACT OF 
                                  2003

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 8, 2003

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation. 
There is no denying the fact that the rise in unsolicited commercial e-
mail, or spam, has become an intrusive aspect of the Internet, 
negatively impacting consumers and Internet service providers. Surveys 
have noted that the volume of spam rose from 8 percent of all e-mail in 
January 2001 to 45 percent of all e-mail in January 2003.
  Increasingly, spam mail is designed to prey upon innocent consumers 
by enticing them with fraudulent or misleading offers. Even worse, many 
of these e-mails are created to trick Internet users of all ages into 
opening web pages that depict sexually-explicit materials. In fact, the 
Federal Trade Commission recently reported that, out of 1,000 pieces of 
spam it studied, 66 percent contained false or misleading information, 
and roughly 18 percent concerned adult offers.
  At the same time, spam also is incredibly costly to our Nation's 
economy. The huge amount of spam that is transferred over the Internet 
has drastically altered the speed at which it takes to process e-mails 
and the amount of memory needed to maintain an e-mail account. These 
costs are often transferred to businesses and customers who are forced 
to pay for time spent reading and deleting junk mail. Indeed, the 
Ferris Research Group estimates that spam will cost the United States 
over $10 billion in 2003. It is clear that something must be done about 
this problem.
  To this end, I am gratified that many of my colleagues are unified in 
their resolve to pass a law to prevent spam and have reached this 
compromise. In order to stop the harmful practices of spammers, we have 
before us Federal legislation that gives consumers the ability to opt-
out of receiving any commercial e-mail they do not want to receive and 
makes it illegal to falsify the identity of the sender.
  With respect to enforcement, we have before us legislation that would 
allow for effective prosecution of those who violate Federal spam 
legislation. On the Federal level, by giving the Department of Justice 
and the Federal Trade Commission the tools to fine and place in jail 
the most egregious spammers, we can begin to give consumers control 
over their in-boxes. It is important to note that these protections are 
not limited to commercial e-mails; consumers will have enhanced 
protections against pornographic e-mails as well.
  Also, knowing that effective law enforcement requires multiple 
fronts, this legislation does not rely on Federal enforcers alone, 
though. It empowers State attorneys general to bring civil actions 
against spammers for injunctions and damages. Moreover, it gives 
Internet service providers, whose systems suffer from spam traffic 
every day, the ability to bring lawsuits against violators.
  The bottom line is that Congress must pass tough laws in order to 
deal effectively with spammers who can now hide behind the anonymity of 
the Internet. Only through legislation such as this that establishes 
civil and criminal penalties for sending unsolicited and fraudulent e-
mails can we protect our Nation's consumers.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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