Opening Statement of Sen.
Conrad Burns.
Re: Hearing of Senate Communications Subcommittee on Anti-Spamming Bill.
Date: June 17, 1998.
Source: Office of Sen. Conrad Burns.
Statement of Senator Conrad Burns
Communications Subcommittee of the
Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
Hearing on Junk E-mail
June 17,1998
I would like to welcome our witnesses to today's hearing, which will address an unintended problem posed by the growth of the Internet: the explosion of junk e-mail, or "spamming." I would like to particularly thank Senator Murkowski, Senator Torricelli and Congressman Smith for taking time out of their busy schedules to testify before this Subcommittee on this critical issue.
The Internet has provided tremendous commercial and educational opportunities to people across the globe. Unfortunately, however, the revolution in communications technology has also allowed for unscrupulous actors to intrude on the privacy of Americans with the digital equivalent of junk mail. In the digital age, it is just as cheap and easy to send one million pieces of junk e-mail as it is to send one piece.
"Spamming" is truly the scourge of the Information Age. This problem has become so widespread that it has begun to burden our information infrastructure. Entire new networks have had to be constructed to deal with it, when resources would be far better spent on educational or commercial needs.
Spamming is especially troublesome to consumers in rural areas such as Montana. Often, rural residents must pay long distance charges to receive these unwanted solicitations, many of which contain fraudulent messages.
I congratulate Senators Murkowski and Torricelli for their hard work on dealing with the issue of spamming. I supported the Anti-Slamming Bill, S. 1618, which as amended included language that requires commercial e-mailers to identify themselves. The amendment also required that a junk e-mailer must honor requests from individuals to be deleted from mailing lists. As those of us with online accounts are discovering, millions of junk e-mails are sent out with fake e-mail addresses which prevent citizens from requesting that they not be sent any further messages from the same sources. This language was simply a "Truth in Advertising Amendment" and I welcomed it as a positive first step in dealing with this increasingly troublesome topic.
I will continue to work closely with my colleagues to make sure that Americans are freed from this invasion of their privacy in the digital world. I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses today on this important issue. Thank you.
Opening Statement of Sen.
Frank Murkowski.
Re: Senate Communications Subcommittee Hearing on Anti-Spamming Bill.
Date: June 17, 1998.
Source: Sen. Commerce Committee.
Statement of Senator Frank Murkowski
Senate Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Communications
June 17, 1998
Thank you Mr. Chairman for calling this important hearing. Junk e-mail, also known as spam, is an issue of tremendous concern to consumers, businesses, Internet Service providers, and government agencies responsible for controlling fraud. Junk e-mail is a particular burden to our rural constituents in Alaska and Montana who must pay a long charge to access the Internet.
I am pleased to see the panel testifying before you today. Each of the witnesses today has been participating along with myself in a workshop created at the request of the Federal Trade Commission. The leader of this workshop, Deirdre Mulligan of the Center for Democracy and Technology, should be commended for her efforts in hosting a forum where a variety of views were expressed and debated. I look forward to the release of a final report of this workshop within the next few weeks.
I have been working to address the issue of junk email for over a year. Recognizing that junk email is a problem that deserves legislative attention, I introduced S. 771 last May. Based upon comments that I received from many interested parties and the work of CDT, I along with Senator Torricelli added a provision to to the telephone slamming bill that represents a first step in controlling the problem of junk e-mail. Our measure will weed out the bad actors of the Internet by requiring identification of online marketers as well as requiring that "remove" requests are honored.
For some in the Internet community, our solution does not go far enough. They propose an outright ban on unsolicited e-mail. I believe such a ban would establish a dangerous precedent and would erode the protections of the First Amendment. The government simply should not dictate what a consumer sees in his or her mailbox. We have been down this road before with the Communications Decency Act. The Supreme Court by a unanimous vote has made very clear what it thinks of such sweeping bans on Internet material. Consumers should have the final word in deciding what comes into their mailboxes, not the government.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I will finish my statement this morning by pointing out that there are numerous views on this issue and they are well represented before you today.
Thank you again for holding this hearing.
Press Release of Sen.
Conrad Burns.
Re: Anti-Spamming Bill.
Date: June 17, 1998.
Source: Office of Sen. Conrad Burns.
'Spamming' Hot Topic on the Hill
Burns' Subcommittee Takes on Junk E-Mail During Hearing
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Montana Senator Conrad Burns today blasted Junk e-mailing or "spamming," as a threat to computer networks across the nation.
"The Internet has provided tremendous commercial and educational opportunities to people across the globe," Burns said. "Unfortunately, however, the revolution in communications technology has also allowed for unscrupulous actors to intrude on the privacy of Americans with the digital equivalent of junk mail. in the digital age, it is just as cheap and easy to send one million pieces of junk e-mail as it is to send one piece.
"Spamming is truly the scourge of the Information Age. This problem has become so widespread that it has begun to burden our information infrastructure. Entire new networks have had to be constructed to deal with it, when resources would be far better spent on educational or commercial needs.
"Spamming is especially troublesome to consumers in rural areas, such as Montana. Often, rural residents must pay long distance charges to receive these unwanted solicitations, many of which contain fraudulent messages."
"While each individual e-mail message only requires a minimal amount of Internet resources, when multiplied by the millions, such bulk messages can easily clog data pipelines and force both Internet service providers and recipients to spend time and resources to deal with what are frequently unwanted messages," said Deirdre Mulligan of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing public policies to protect privacy on the Internet.
Burns' statement came during a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, of which Burns is the chairman. He said that he wants to explore legislation to deal with the problem.