[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 27 (Monday, February 10, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6747-6748]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-3162]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Public Forum: Spam Email

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

ACTION: Notice announcing public forum.

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SUMMARY: The FTC is planning to host a public forum to explore the 
issues regarding the proliferation of and potential solutions to 
unsolicited commercial email (``UCE'' or ``spam''). The forum will also 
look at how the unique qualities of spam contribute to and hinder both 
fraud and its prosecution.

DATES: The workshop will be held on April 30-May 2, 2003, from 8:30 
a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Federal Trade Commission, 601 New Jersey 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC. The event is open to the public, and there 
is no fee for attendance. Pre-registration is not required.
    Requests to Participate as a Panelist: Written requests to 
participate as a panelist in the forum must be filed by March 25, 2003. 
For further instructions, please see the ``Requests to Participate as a 
Panelist in the Workshop'' section. Persons filing requests to 
participate as a panelist will be notified by April 8, 2003, if they 
have been selected.

ADDRESSES: Written requests to participate as a panelist in the forum 
should be submitted to: Secretary, Federal Trade Commission, Room 159, 
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580. In the alternative, 
they may be emailed to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Huseman, Attorney, (202) 326-
3320, or Lisa Tobin, Investigator, (202) 326-3218, Division of 
Marketing Practices, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, 
NW., Washington, DC 20580. A detailed agenda and additional information 
on the forum will be posted on the FTC's Web site, www.ftc.gov, by 
April 8, 2003.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background and Forum Goals

    Unsolicited commercial email (``UCE'' or ``spam'') is any 
commercial electronic mail message that is sent, often in bulk, to a 
consumer without the consumer's prior request or consent. The very low 
cost of sending spam differentiates it from other forms of unsolicited 
marketing, such as direct mail or telemarketing. Those marketing 
techniques, unlike spam, impose costs on marketers that may serve to 
limit their use.
    As a result of the low costs associated with sending bulk 
commercial email, the volume of spam that consumers and businesses 
receive is substantial and has continued to increase over time. A 
recent study by the Radicati Group, a market research group, estimated 
that 32 percent of the 7.3 billion email messages sent each day are 
spam and that the figure is likely to increase substantially in the 
future.\1\ Another study recently conducted by the Symantec corporation 
found that 65 percent of those surveyed reported spending more than 10 
minutes each day dealing with spam. Moreover, 37 percent of the survey 
respondents stated they received more than 100 spam email messages each 
week.\2\ This increased volume of spam imposes financial and 
operational costs on Internet service providers (``ISPs''), burdens 
consumers, and impacts e-commerce generally.''
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    \1\ See www.radicati.com.
    \2\ An article describing the survey can be found at: http://rtnews.globetechnology.com/servlet/ArticleNews/tech/RTGAM/20021202/gtspammy/Technology/techBN/HYPERLINK (visited Dec. 3, 2002).
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    In addition, the increased volume of spam has increased the 
potential for fraud on the Internet, such as deceptive content within 
spam messages or deceptive means of sending email. Although not all 
spam is fraudulent, fraud operators have seized on the Internet's 
capacity to reach literally millions of consumers quickly and at a low 
cost through spam. Fraud operators also can misuse technology to 
conceal their identity. Many spam messages contain false information 
about the sender and where the message was routed from, making it 
difficult to trace the spam back to the actual sender. Spam messages 
often contain misleading subject lines that lead consumers to open 
email messages they otherwise would delete without reading. Thus, the 
proliferation of spam, and deceptive spam particularly, poses a threat 
to consumer confidence and participation in online commerce.
    The Commission has taken law enforcement actions against deceptive 
spam and has engaged in several research efforts to explore how spam 
affects consumers and online commerce. For example, this year the 
Commission conducted a surf in which the FTC and law enforcement 
partners tested whether ``remove me'' or ``unsubscribe'' options in 
spam were being honored. The law enforcement agencies discovered that 
63 percent of the removal representations were not honored.
    Further, in its ``Spam Harvest,'' the Commission conducted an 
examination of what online activities place consumers at risk for 
receiving spam. The examination discovered that one hundred percent of 
the email addresses posted in chat rooms received spam; the first 
received spam only eight minutes after the address was posted. Eighty-
six percent of the email addresses posted at newsgroups and Web pages 
received spam; as did 50 percent of addresses at free personal Web page 
services; 27 percent from message board postings; and nine percent of 
email service directories. The ``Spam Harvest'' also found that the 
type of spam received was not related to the sites where the email 
addresses were posted. For example, email addresses posted to 
investment-related newsgroups did not receive solely investment-related 
spam, but also received a large amount of adult content and work-at-
home-spam.
    In addition to law enforcement and research, the Commission has 
engaged in education efforts about how consumers and businesses can 
reduce the amount of unwanted spam they receive. These materials can be 
found on the FTC's Web site, www.ftc.gov/spam.
    Despite the research the Commission has conducted, its law 
enforcement actions, and education initiatives, there are other topics 
concerning spam that could benefit from additional study. To explore 
the impact that spam has on consumers' use of email, email marketing, 
and the Internet industry, the

[[Page 6748]]

Commission will convene a public forum on April 30-May 2, 2003. Email 
marketers, ``anti-spammers,'' ISPs, ISP abuse department personnel, 
spam filter operators, other email technology professionals, consumers, 
consumer groups, and law enforcement officials are especially 
encouraged to participate.
    Panel 1 will consist of consumers, email marketers, anti-
spammers, ISP abuse department personnel and filter programmers 
discussing their daily experiences with spam.
    Panel 2 will focus on the email address gathering process 
and the implications that address gathering technology has on consumer 
participation in e-commerce and the Internet. The harvesting of email 
addresses from the Web, newsgroups and chat rooms will be discussed, 
along with lists available for sale. Panelists also will speak about 
the distribution of email to those lists through spamware. The panel 
also will address the issue of consent and disclosures in voluntarily 
obtaining consumers' email addresses.
    Panel 3 will address the aspects of spam that can be 
falsified by senders, including false from and reply-to addresses, 
false routing information, deceptive subject lines, and fraudulent 
removal representations.
    Panel 4 will explore the costs and benefits of spam to 
consumers, ISPs, and email marketers. Panelists will comment on the 
costs of sending spam relative to traditional forms of marketing. The 
amounts spent by ISPs on filtering, bandwidth, and customer service 
will be explored. How those ISP costs are passed onto consumers will be 
addressed, as well as consumers' costs in time and decreased Internet 
participation.
    Panel 5 will cover security weaknesses inherent in email 
transfer technology and the way that spammers exploit these weaknesses. 
Open Relays, Open Proxies and FormMail Scripts will be discussed in 
terms of their legitimate purposes, costs to the open technology 
providers, use in sending spam, and processes for securing those 
weaknesses.
    Panel 6 will address blacklists, which consist of lists of 
domain names or Internet Protocol (``IP'') addresses of suspected 
spammers. Maintained by private entities, the lists are used to block 
email from those names and IP addresses. Issues for the panel include 
standards for being placed on blacklists, how to remove one's IP 
address or domain name from a blacklist, and whether the use of such 
lists constitutes an unfair business practice.
    Panel 7 will discuss nefarious files that are downloaded 
with the content of email messages, including viruses, Web beacons, and 
spyware.
    Panel 8 will cover issues specific to wireless devices, 
including the nature of text-based messaging and wireless email. The 
economic burdens that recipients incur in per-message and per-minute 
service rates will be of particular interest, along with the 
international experience and forecasts for increased wireless 
messaging.
    Panel 9 will explore current and proposed legislation, 
including U.S. federal and state bills. Consumer and ISP private right 
of action clauses and the preemption of state law by federal law will 
be issues of prominence, as well as the effect legislation might have 
on email marketing. The panel also will examine any constitutional 
limitations on legislation.
    Panel 10 will examine proposed and current international 
spam legislation, including policy decisions behind those statutes. 
Panelists also will discuss their experience and plans for enforcing 
international laws.
    Panel 11 will discuss recent private and governmental spam 
law enforcement actions and the challenges of litigating spam cases. 
Some of the challenges that will be discussed include cost-
effectiveness, tracking spammers, collecting evidence across borders, 
and effecting relief against international entities.
    Panel 12 will focus on best practices for e-mail senders 
and receivers. E-mail recipient topics will include keeping e-mail 
addresses private, evaluating privacy policies and consent terms, using 
filters and responding to removal requests. E-mail sender topics 
include providing removal mechanisms, providing valid ``from'' 
addresses, and using opt-in or confirmed recipient lists.
    Panel 13 will explore evolving technologies that aim to 
eliminate spam or offset its negative effects. The technologies include 
filtering technology, such as white lists and bonded sender programs, 
among others.
    Panel 14 will discuss possible structural changes to the 
way e-mail is sent and delivered, including new mail transfer protocols 
and proposals to reverse the cost model of e-mail.

Requests To Participate as a Panelist in the Forum

    Those parties who wish to participate as panelists in the forum 
must notify the FTC in writing of their interest by March 25, 2003, 
either by mail to the Secretary of the FTC or by e-mail to 
[email protected]. Requests to participate as a panelist should be 
captioned ``Spam Forum--Request to Participate, P024407.'' Parties are 
asked to include in their requests the name and number of the panel on 
which they would like to participate, a statement setting forth their 
expertise in or knowledge of the issues on which the panel will focus, 
and their contact information, including a telephone number, facsimile 
number, and e-mail address. If requesting by mail, please submit an 
original and two copies of each document. Panelists will be notified by 
April 8, 2003, whether they have been selected.
    Using the following criteria, FTC staff will select a limited 
number of panelists to participate in the forum:
    1. The party has expertise in or knowledge of the issues that are 
the focus of the forum.
    2. The party's participation would promote a balance of interests 
being represented at the forum.
    3. The party has been designated by one or more interested parties 
as a party who shares group interests with the designator(s).
    In addition, there will be time during the forum for those not 
serving as panelists to comment or ask questions.


    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-3162 Filed 2-7-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-U