Anti-spam law may be impossible to enforce

Monday, Aug. 30, 1999 | 3:14 a.m.

Raggio pushed a bill through the 1997 Legislature making it illegal to send unsolicited e-mail advertisements to Nevadans.

The law allows Nevadans to go out and hire a lawyer whose job will be to find who sent the e-mail and to sue that person, even if the message may have originated in Finland. Just haul the culprit to court and collect $10 in damages for each message, along with attorney fees.

"The law is worse than if there was no legislation whatsoever," said Palo Alto, Calif., lawyer David H. Kramer, who initially backed the bill. "It legitimizes the practice."

One user group pointed out the law does not actually require the senders to remove the offending advertisements even after computer users say they don't want it. Another said Nevada's law had been amended so drastically by lobbyists for advertising companies that it lacked any real consumer protection.

"As usual whoever wrote the law has no idea about the media," said Lance Rose, author of a legal guide for online service providers.

Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters Corp., is more diplomatic about the Nevada law.

"The fact they didn't get it immediately right is no disgrace," said Catlett whose company campaigns against unsolicited e-mail advertising. "Nevada was the pioneer."

But its small size in the scheme of things meant many advertisers had no idea Nevada even had an anti-spam law. Spam is the term used to describe junk mail that comes via computer.

Even Catlett admits he was not familiar with the Nevada law. But he believes a law passed in California last year has a real chance of stopping the nuisance advertising.

The California law allows Internet Service Providers like America Online to sue advertisers that send out unsolicited e-mail advertising. The spammers can be fined up to $25,000 per day for the e-mail advertising messages they send. Washington and Virginia also have passed anti-spam laws.

"There is hope when a huge state like California makes it rough on spammers," Catlett said. "Spammers are put in a difficult position if a larger state goes after them."

Raggio said he is eager to amend his law if it means bringing an end to unwanted advertising messages.

"I am willing to look at any improvement," he said. "Anyone who has a computer is frustrated at the amount of that stuff that comes across their screens. It is truly a nuisance."

Richard Siegel, with the American Civil Liberties Union in Reno, said his organization opposes all efforts to restrain commercial speech, as well as other speech.

"We have been very successful in protecting commercial speech, from billboards to leafletting to success in keeping the Internet open," said Siegel, whose organization opposed Raggio's bill.