On September 25, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved, by voice vote, a bill (S. 1293) that would make it a federal crime to send fraudulent or deceptive e-mail “spam.”
Sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the Criminal Spam Act would impose penalties on “spammers” who: 1) access a protected computer without permission for the purpose of transmitting multiple commercial e-mail messages from or through the computer; 2) use a protected computer to relay or retransmit multiple commercial e-mail messages to deceive or mislead recipients as to the origin of the messages; 3) falsify header information in multiple commercial e-mail messages and intentionally transmit the messages; 4) register for five or more e-mail accounts and transmit messages from any combination of such accounts; and 5) falsely represent the right to use five or more Internet protocol (IP) addresses and transmit multiple e-mail messages from such addresses.
Under S. 1293, spammers would be subject to three- to five-year sentences in prison, depending on past offenses and the volume of e-mail sent. Spammers also could face fines of up to $25,000 a day. In addition, spammers could forfeit their computer equipment and any proceeds they gain from fraudulent e-mail scams.
In emphasizing the importance of S. 1293, Sen. Hatch stated that spam is increasingly being used to promote “pornographic Web sites, illegally printed software, bogus charities, pyramid schemes, and other ‘get rich quick’ scams.”
The committee also approved, by voice vote, a resolution (S. Res. 222) designating October 17, 2003 as “National Mammography Day.”
