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Summary:
Unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE), also called "spam" or "junk e-mail," aggravates many computer users. Not only can spam be a nuisance, but its cost may be passed on to consumers through higher charges from Internet service providers who must upgrade their systems to handle the traffic. Also, some spam involves fraud, or includes adult-oriented material that offends recipients or that parents want to protect their children from seeing. Proponents of UCE insist it is a legitimate marketing technique that is protected by the First Amendment. While 35 states have anti-spam laws, there is no federal law specifically concerning spam. Nine "antispam" bills are pending in the 108th Congress: H.R. 1933 (Lofgren), H.R. 2214 (BurrTauzin-Sensenbrenner), H.R. 2515 (Wilson-Green), S. 563 (Dayton), S. 877 (BurnsWyden), S. 1052 (Nelson-FL), S. 1231 (Schumer), S. 1293 (Hatch), and S. 1327 (Corzine). Tables providing brief "side-by-side" comparisons of the bills are included at the end of this report. Spam on wireless devices such as cell phones is discussed in CRS Report RL31636, Wireless Privacy: Availability of Location Information for Telemarketing. State spam laws, and an existing federal law (the Computer Fraud and Abuse statute) that is being used by some Internet Service Providers to bring suit against spammers, are discussed in CRS Report RL31488, Regulation of Unsolicited Commercial EM a i l. This report will be updated as events warrant.
