"Spam isn't just annoying, it burns people's time and money by forcing them to wade through millions of messages that cost spammers virtually nothing to package and fire off," said Bowen. "An advertiser's right to free speech doesn't automatically trump your right to be left alone, especially when you're the one who winds up paying for that 'free' speech."
A January study by Ferris Research found spam costs U.S. corporations $8.9 billion each year. Jupiter Research found U.S. e-mail users received more than 140 billion pieces of spam in 2001 and an estimated 261 billion pieces in 2002 -- an 86% increase. By 2007 some 645 billion pieces of spam will be delivered annually with the average e-mail user receiving more than 3,900 pieces of spam every year. A Harris Interactive (www.harrisinteractive.com) poll released in early January found that 74% of online users surveyed would favor laws to outlaw spam.
"It's against the law for advertisers to send you sales pitches that burn your fax paper and toner or fill up your phone answering machine and voice mail, so why should advertisers be allowed to overwhelm your e-mail inbox with ads you didn't ask for and don't want?" continued Bowen.
The bill would repeal California's opt-out spam statute in favor of an "opt-in" system modeled on the federal law that bans unsolicited fax advertising. The bill requires companies that want to send e-mail ads to get an e-mail user's permission in advance if they don't already have a business relationship with the person. SB 12 allows any Californian who receives unsolicited ads to sue the sender and the advertiser in court for $500 per spam and the judge can triple the fine if he or she finds the sender willfully and knowingly violates the California ban. The bill also requires the court to impose an additional $250 per spam civil penalty to be directed to high tech crime task forces throughout the state in any spam judgement.
"America Online, Microsoft and the Direct Marketing Association don't want to ban spam, they're busy pushing legislation in Congress to let so-called 'legitimate marketers' spam you until their hearts content," said Bowen. "As one who comes from the 'If it walks like a duck . . .' school of thought, there's no such thing as 'legitimate spam.' Spam is spam, it's not free speech and it's not legitimate advertising.
"Spammers may have the guns, but we've got the numbers," said Bowen in describing the broad coalition of people, businesses, and groups who are supporting SB 12. SB 12 now goes to the state Assembly, where it will be assigned to a policy committee in June.
