How Harris Miller Quashed Anti-Spam Legislation

By: PaulVa
Published On: 6/1/2006 12:09:26 PM

I would hate to think that one of the people behind the junk e-mails collecting in my mailbox would happen to be someone trying to get my vote in the June 13th Democratic primary in Virginia.  But then again, besides being the industry point person for spammers, he has also been a cheerleader for CAFTA, Most Favored Nation status with CAFTA and claims to support a woman's right to chose while at the same time being for parental notification laws.

Harris Miller was the point man that squashed a national "do not spam list" that Senator Chuck Schumer proposed three years ago.  The list would have been similar to the national "Do not call" list Americans signed up for in 2003.

According to the August 22, 2003 edition of the Charleston (WV) Gazette & Daily Mail, Harris Miller took the lead in successfully fighting Schumer's Amendment to the Can-Spam Act of 2003.

Miller ridiculed Schumer's efforts at limiting spam by stating, "As much as we would like to think that by putting our name on a list we could eliminate the solicitations for miracle gels and cheap mortgages, the fact is that legitimate businesses protect their lists and work to prevent abuses, while bad actors do not care how they are perceived and would ignore a Do Not Spam list anyway," said ITTA President Harris Miller."

According to Information Week, The `National Do Not Spam" list had the support of over 75% of American consumers, but unfortunately, Harris Miller had the support of a majority of Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, effectively killing any attempts at addressing the spam problem. 

Think of this, nearly 80 percent of the e-mail sent today through America Online is unwanted spam. AOL routinely clears out about two billion e-mails a day that it has flagged as unwanted spam.  Dealing with spam is costly, frustrating and time-consuming. According to Ferris Research, a California-based Internet consulting firm, dealing with spam costs consumers more than $10 billion a year. 

And every day, internet users such as ourselves have to wade through endless fields of spam in our inboxes.  In fact, the Can-Spam Act got so watered down by lobbyists like Harris Miller, that today, most Americans don't even know an anti-spam law was passed. 

So the next time your inbox gets filled with spam, remember to thank Harris Miller for being so thoughtful as to help provide us with that experience.  And don't forget that we're talking about the same man who uttered these infamous words:  ''You can't stop outsourcing. You can't stop work going offshore,'' says Harris Miller, president of the trade group Information Technology Association of America.

Comments



great find (TurnVirginiaBlue - 6/1/2006 12:27:18 PM)
and explains why he would spam people's phones with false robo messages.


This has been crossposted (phriendlyjaime - 6/1/2006 12:33:50 PM)
on Kos.  Recommend and comment, it is always good to have Miller and Webb stories out for all to see.


Spam (KathyinBlacksburg - 6/1/2006 8:18:31 PM)
Believe me, I am not pleased about Miller's position this.  However, as an AOL subscriber (yes, I know...) I have the opposite problem.  I get very little spam.  The problem is, however, that things I am supposed to receive get deleted as spam before they even get to my email address (don't even make it to a spam folder).  Everything from communications re. travel to bills to political mail I have signed up for is deleted...  Even when I turn off all spam controls on my computer and on my AOl preferences, I still don't get important material.  Still want the opt-out legislation, though.  But I personally doubt the percentage of spam reported in that article.  Out of the hundreds of emails I get each week, sadly, I have asked for most of it (am a political newsletter junkie).  What can I say?