Comments:

Re: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 To The Commissioners: My opinion is that it is not the business of bureaucratic government to choke the American free enterprise system by curbing either solicited or unsolicited bulk email. I am gravely concerned, as a potential internet marketing entrepreneur-to-be, about the proposed requirement for merchants to maintain suppression lists. There are many problems and costs associated with this idea and so much damage done to consumers and businesses alike. Please reconsider this matter most carefully! Requirement of using suppression lists will seriously damage many of the LEGITIMATE PUBLICATIONS available on the net. My specific concern is for harm to publishers who require permission from the consumer prior to adding them to any list (i.e., "opt-in" list). They are NOT who CAN-SPAM was designed to put out of business, but this requirement will VERY LIKELY HAVE THAT EFFECT! There is also the potential for significant harm to consumers because of the problem of properly knowing their intent when they unsubscribe from a list. Additionally, these suppression lists could easily fall into the hands of spammers, LEADING TO MORE SPAM INSTEAD OF LESS! I was, frankly, not surprised at government bureaucracy dreaming up this so-called "suppression" list which is simply ONE MORE REGULATION to "suppress" the freedoms and enterprising nature of the American people (consumers and business people alike) who wish to realize more of the traditional American Dream without interference from a nosey government that has no business in our business, unless it clearly involves criminal activity or treason. However, I was quite surprised at the potential problems this ruling could involve and the weak mentality and fallacious logic which spawned it. I URGE YOU, in the strongest possible terms, to RECONSIDER its implementation in light of these problems. Please have the CHARACTER, CONSCIENCE, and CONSCIENTIOUSNESS to do this on behalf of honest internet marketers whose livelihood this affects and on the behalf of the millions of potential customers, clientele, etc., whose lives can be greatly benefited by the thousands of legitimate, useful, and wholesome products and services awaiting them on the net. My Regards and Gratitude for reading and considering my comments. If some of the comments seem to be overly-blunt, it is simply because I have strong, unwavering convictions about the need to return to limited government. I believe in states' rights, decentralization of power, strict Constitutional interpretation, and am a political traditionalist after the thinking of most of our Founding Fathers, particularly Jeffersonian and Madisonian principles. Once again, thank you! Respectfully yours, John F. Battles Georgia, USA