Law proposes to stop spam

‘Spam’ – unwanted commercial email – is being attacked by State Attorney General Thomas Reilly, who proposed legislation yesterday to protect Internet users from this type of email solicitation.

‘All of us recognize the fact that the Internet is a … truly magnificent place, but we’re seeing behavior that is criminal,’ Reilly said. ‘You’re online a matter of minutes and you’re virtually bombarded with commercial email.’

The proposed law, which is being introduced as a joint effort with Federal Trade Commission, would require advertisements and messages with adult material to be prominently labeled in the subject line. It would also forbid senders from using false addresses and forged routing information and make it easier for individuals to sue senders of unsolicited email.

The law, to be sponsored by State Senator-elect Jarrett Barrios of Cambridge, would apply to emails sent in Massachusetts or over service providers in the state. It would also apply to senders who know or should know that message recipients are Massachusetts residents.

The attorney general that acknowledged because of jurisdiction problems, the law could not apply to all junk email, but, he said, ‘we have to start somewhere.’

Similar laws have been enacted in 26 other states but federal legislation to curtail spam has stalled in congress.

The key to fighting Internet abuses is cooperation between multiple agencies, said Barbara Anthony, Northeast Regional Director of the FTC. To combat online crime, the FTC formed Northeast Netforce, a coalition including state and local law enforcement offices from across the region, as well as the Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Attorney’s office and the New York Office of Consumer Affairs.

Anthony announced the results of a ‘spam harvest’ conducted by the Northeast Netforce, an effort to find out where users were most likely to receive spam by placing 250 undercover email addresses in locations online and monitoring incoming email for six weeks.

The addresses received 3,349 emails during the survey. One hundred percent of addresses posted in chat rooms received spam and 86 percent posted on newsgroups and web pages were targeted. The safest places online to post an email address, the study found, were instant message profiles and online resume and dating services.

The Northeast Netforce is the third such regional program, following efforts in the Midwest and the Northwest. The group has filed more than 30 civil and criminal actions, specifically targeting online fraud and chain email pyramid schemes. It also tries to educate Internet users about how they can protect themselves from unwanted email.

‘Consumer education is just as powerful a tool to protect consumers as bringing cases,’ Anthony said.

The group suggests consumers use a different screen name for chatting than for email, as well as separate email accounts for public and personal correspondence. Users can also cut down on spam by choosing an email address with a combination of numbers and letters, which will foil some programs that randomly generate addresses to spam.

The press conference also included testimony from two victims of online auction fraud, both of whom had paid for computers on eBay that they never received. Only one of the victims was eventually refunded.

Although the proposed law would do little to prevent auction fraud, it would give consumers and prosecutors greater latitude to pursue fraud claims.

‘The Internet is just another tool for fraud operators,’ said Ken Jones, the Northeast Postal Inspector. He likened online scams to telephone scams and said the Postal Service had to work with other agencies to investigate Internet fraud that may use old fashioned mail, as well as email.

‘The Internet will never reach full potential until corrective measures are in place,’ Reilly said, adding the law needs to change to keep up with changes in technology.

The proposed legislation ‘seeks to level the playing field for consumers,’ Barrios said.