U.S. Senate Bill S. 1618 Allows “Spam” to Come to Your Email Box As Long As The Email Complies With the Law-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
An unsolicited commercial email comes to you with the message at the bottom that says:
This message is sent in compliance with the new email bill section 301. Under Bill S.1618 TITLE III passed by the 105th US Congress, this message cannot be considered SPAM as long as we include the way to be removed, Paragraph (a)(c) of S.1618, further transmissions to you by the sender of this email may be stopped at no cost to you by sending a response of “REMOVE” in the subject line of the email, we really will remove you immediately.
The Truth:
Spam is not technically illegal, but is so widely despised that there has been the wish on the part of a lot of email users that it would be made illegal.
This email message attempts to say that there has been federal legislation that addresses the issue and defines some of the conditions under which the Spam has been declared okay. It is not true, however. There was such a bill in the 105th congress but the language regarding “Spam” was removed before it was passed by the Senate and the bill was never passed by the House of Representatives. It never became law.
Spam experts warn not to respond to an unsolicited email. Many of them don’t have your email address. They may have had a bulk mailing service send you the email and if you reply with a request to be removed from their list, some of them will have your email address for the first time and not only will not remove you, but will now include your email address in their own records.
There are responsible businesses using email. The most responsible will never email you or put your email on a mailing list unless you’ve requested it. Also, responsible businesses will usually send the email from an email address that is easily identified as theirs and will include information in the email that reveals who they are and how to contact them either via email or a website. They will also offer you an opportunity to be removed from their email list. Businesses that are not so responsible use random, temporary email addresses, do not include any information about who they are or how to contact them directly, and even though they offer an opportunity to be removed from their email list, many of them don’t honor that. If they do include a phone number or address, it is frequently a voice mail, not a direct, live connection.