Chamber Urges Congress to Kick Spam Out of the Inbox

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Chamber of Commerce today urged lawmakers to quickly pass legislation that would curb the distribution of spam email, saying it is offensive to consumers and undermines the productivity of the nation's businesses.

"The proliferation of bulk, unsolicited commercial email has become more than a nuisance," said Joe Rubin, the Chamber's executive director for technology and e-commerce during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. "Increasingly, consumers are getting bombarded with pornographic and misleading email that overshadows the online communication efforts of legitimate companies."

Spam adversely affects both consumers and businesses, according to the Chamber. Consumers may be less likely to buy goods and services online if they feel that including their email addresses in such transactions will lead to a bombardment of unwanted commercial email. Spam threatens to undermine the convenience and security that e-commerce offers.

Consumers often delete bulk email from their inboxes because they cannot differentiate between spam and email from legitimate companies. Those legitimate companies then not only lose the opportunity to communicate with their customers and increase business, but also open themselves up legal action for being mistaken as spammers. In addition, business owners must confront a drop in productivity as their employees spend more time deleting unwanted spam.

The Chamber backs legislation that empowers internet service providers to go after spammers, advocates greater cooperation between business and government, strengthens the Federal Trade Commission's enforcement abilities and creates a single, uniform code for email communications. Such legislation would decrease the harmful impact of spam without stifling the ability of companies to communicate with their customers, both current and potential.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing more than three million businesses of every size, sector and region.

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