Wisconsin Lawmakers are Wasting Their Time

David Daniels | October 24, 2005, 02:55 PM

A new Can-SPAM bill is working its way through the Wisconsin senate and assembly.

Although I have not seen it, I understand the bill is aimed at senders who conceal their identity or attempt to defraud consumers. While the Wisconsin lawmakers purportedly believe that there is no conflict with the federal can-spam law, a conflict most certainly exists.

As defined in resolution S877 (a.k.a. CAN-SPAM) the header information is defined as the part of the message that includes the source, routing, originating domain name and electronic mail address. Further the law goes onto address “Fraud and related activity in connection with electronic mail.” It states that persons who “affect interstate and foreign commerce knowingly” and “materially falsifies header information in multiple commercial electronic mail messages and intentionally initiates the transmission of such messages” can be prosecuted and fined under the law.

Can-spam covers the sending of fraudulent e-mail (commonly called phishing) and although Can-spam does allow States the right to enact statutes that prohibit falsity or deception in any portion of a commercial electronic mail message, they simply do not need to do this since the Can-spam law gives the State Attorney General the power of enforcement. It would appear that this is simply a political move by the Wisconsin assembly to demonstrate to their citizens that they want to pursue action on this topic. Perhaps they don’t know they currently have the ability to take action on this topic. Wisconsin lawmakers are wasting time and their constituents tax dollars by working on a project that already has an answer.