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Spam Patrol In New Jersey, Maryland
by Maureen Sirhal
New Jersey Democratic Assemblyman Thomas Kean hopes the state Senate will pass his bill to curb unsolicited commercial e-mail before the legislature adjourns in June. The state Assembly passed the measure 73-3 on May 6, and it awaits action in the Senate Commerce Committee.
The anti-spam measure, A. 406, would require the label of "ADV" (for advertisement) in the subject line of unsolicited e-mails unless the senders of the e-mails have pre-existing business relationships with the recipients. It also would mandate accurate information in e-mail headers and require that businesses include name, addresses and phone numbers where consumers can opt out of future messages.
The provisions are modeled after similar anti-spam laws in California and South Dakota, Kean said. But his bill "goes a step further on a couple of different fronts. It has the most stringent language in what defines an existing business relationship," he said. "If you do not have an 'affirmative consent' from the recipient to receive unsolicited e-mail, the 'ADV' language kicks in."
The bill also would prohibit the sale of e-mail addresses unless consumers consent. But Kean said some modifications made the measure more palatable to financial services and retail industries. He said the "affirmative consent" language actually would protect businesses.
Several other anti-spam bills have been introduced, but Kean's measure has moved further than its rivals. "My hope is that the federal level will look at this and say this actually makes sense," he said.
Meanwhile, on May 6, Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening signed a bill, H.B. 915, that would prohibit the transmission of unauthorized, false or misleading e-mails. The state legislature overwhelmingly approved the measure.
E-Government, Yes; E-Commerce, Maybe
Ohio lawmakers are considering legislation designed to facilitate the growth of e-government services while limiting state agencies' forays into the e-commerce world. The bill, H.B. 482, would prohibit agencies from competing with the private sector to offer e-commerce services unless the agencies comply with stipulations outlined in the bill.
Under the measure, state agencies would have to identify unmet public needs for the e-commerce services they want to offer and show how they would offer services differently from potential private competitors. Agencies also would have to post annual reviews of their services and allow the public to comment on proposed changes or additions to online services.
"It appears that the likely effect of H.B. 482 is to encourage socially positive changes -- like better management practices and more secure public-data systems -- while preventing far-reaching and costly encroachments on citizen sovereignty in the relationship between citizen and state," said Kent Lassman, director of the Digital Policy Network at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, when he testified Tuesday before the Ohio House State Government Committee.
He noted that the measure would provide a good framework for e-government services and ensure that the public sector would not stifle or compete with private businesses.
In other e-government news, Minnesota officials earlier this month unveiled a new Internet portal, that aims to streamline online government services and make them more accessible.
The Minnesota Office of Technology introduced the pilot site for North Star, a portal that will link online government services for both citizens and government agencies under one site. When the full site is online later this year, residents will be able to design personal sites under a feature called "My Minnesota." Deloitte Consulting helped create the pilot site.
Rep. Upton's Chat About Chat Rooms
Michigan Republican Fred Upton, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, this week hosted a hearing in his home district on the dangers of Internet chat rooms.
"It is much better to reach people in their backyard. It's one thing to have a Washington hearing, but it's another thing to highlight local cases," Upton spokesman Mike Waldron said. "Many parents think it couldn't happen to them."
Upton hosted the hearing at Kalamazoo Valley Community College in Oshtemo. Katie Tarbox, author of the book Katie.com and the victim of an online pedophile, detailed her experience, while representatives from America Online, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Kalamazoo County prosecutor James Gregart offered testimony about ways parents can protect their children online.
"We heard numerous times in the hearing that the best cure to this plague will always be parental involvement," Waldron said "We also heard there is no way to make chatting and chat rooms 100 percent safe." Waldron said Upton plans to follow the issue.
Attorneys General Target Internet Crimes
Several state attorneys general are moving to halt Internet-related crimes.
Last week, for instance, Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa warned residents about an e-mail scam involving an investment proposal in Nigeria. The e-mail claims to be from a Nigerian military or government official and requests consumers' bank accounts so they can receive unclaimed property or cash via a bank transfer.
Federal authorities already have gone to Africa in an effort to stop the scam. Del Papa alerted consumers and is asking citizens to report strange e-mails to the U.S. Secret Service, which is coordinating the investigation.
In Massachusetts, meanwhile, Attorney General Tom Reilly announced last week that a Quincy resident was arrested for making threatening phone calls via the Internet. Police arrested Bruce Hollis on six counts of criminal activity, including making threats and perpetrating identity fraud.
Police said Hollis' activities affected six individuals. He would use the Internet to find personal information about his victims and use that to harass them with calls made over the Internet. The technology -- voice-over Internet protocol -- allowed Hollis to avoid many of the standard identifiers that accompanies traditional phone calls.
The case was brought thanks in part to a police investigation with the state's new Treasury Electronic Crimes Network.
California Launches Next-Generation Internet Center
The California Technology Trade and Commerce Agency has unveiled a new Internet research facility, Net21, at the University of California at Berkeley. The center is part of the agency's Next Generation Internet (NGI) and will provide small companies and researchers with opportunities to develop software applications for NGI.
The NGI program, which has a $5 million budget, provides matching grants for technical assistance to California firms. The goal is to help companies and organization develop viable commercial applications for the Internet.
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