I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2162

To prohibit the use of the equipment of an electronic mail service provider

to send unsolicited commercial electronic mail in contravention of the

provider’s posted policy and to prohibit unauthorized use of Internet

domain names.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 10, 1999

Mr. GARY MILLER of California (for himself, Mr. HOLT, Mr. METCALF, Mr.

ENGLISH, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. CALVERT,

Mrs. MORELLA, and Mr. BAKER) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To prohibit the use of the equipment of an electronic mail

service provider to send unsolicited commercial electronic

mail in contravention of the provider’s posted policy and

to prohibit unauthorized use of Internet domain names.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Can Spam Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION REGARDING SPAMMING.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—No person may use the equipment

3 of an electronic mail service provider, or cause such equip4 ment to be used, for transmission of unsolicited commer5 cial electronic mail in violation of a posted policy of such

6 provider.

7 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section may not

8 be construed—

9 (1) to require any electronic mail service pro10 vider to establish, create, or have in effect any policy

11 regarding the use of the provider’s equipment; or

12 (2) to alter, limit, or restrict—

13 (A) the rights of an electronic mail service

14 provider under section 230(c)(1) of the Commu15 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(c)(1));

16 (B) any decision of an electronic mail serv17 ice provider to permit or restrict access to or

18 use of its equipment; or

19 (C) any exercise of the editorial function of

20 an electronic mail service provider.

21 (c) CIVIL ACTION.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any other

23 remedy available under law, an electronic mail serv24 ice provider who suffers damage or loss by reason of

25 a violation of subsection (a) may bring a civil action
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1 for relief under paragraph (2) in an appropriate dis2 trict court of the United States or State court.

3 (2) RELIEF.—If the court determines that a

4 violation of subsection (a) has occurred, the court

5 shall award damages in an amount equal to the

6 greater of—

7 (A) the actual monetary loss suffered by

8 the provider as a result of the violation; and

9 (B) the amount that is equal to $50 for

10 each use of the equipment of the provider that

11 constitutes such a violation, except that—

12 (i) the aggregate amount of damages

13 under this subparagraph for any single day

14 may not exceed $25,000; and

15 (ii) for purposes of this subparagraph,

16 each electronic mail message that uses the

17 equipment of an electronic mail service

18 provider shall be considered to be a sepa19 rate use of such equipment.

20 The court may also award injunctive relief or such

21 other equitable relief as the court considers appro22 priate, and shall award to the prevailing party rea23 sonable attorney’s fees and costs.

24 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the

25 following definitions shall apply:
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1 (1) COMMERCIAL ELECTRONIC MAIL.—The

2 term ‘‘commercial electronic mail’’ means any elec3 tronic mail message, the principal purpose of which

4 is to promote, directly or indirectly, the sale or other

5 distribution of goods or services to the recipient.

6 (2) INTERNET.—The term ‘‘Internet’’ has the

7 meaning given such term in section 230(f) of the

8 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)).

9 (3) INTERNET DOMAIN NAME.—The term

10 ‘‘Internet domain name’’ has the meaning given

11 such term in section 1030(e) of title 18, United

12 States Code.

13 (4) POSTED POLICY.—The term ‘‘posted policy’’

14 means a rule or set of rules established by an elec15 tronic mail service provider that—

16 (A) governs the use of the equipment of

17 the provider for transmission of commercial

18 electronic mail;

19 (B) explicitly provides that compliance

20 with such rule or set of rules is a condition of

21 use of such equipment of the provider by a reg22 istered user (including any guest of a registered

23 user); and

24 (C)(i) is clearly and conspicuously posted

25 on a World Wide Web site of an interactive
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1 computer service whose Internet domain name

2 is identical to the Internet domain name of the

3 electronic mail address to which the rule or set

4 of rules applies;

5 (ii) prohibits such use and provides a send6 er of electronic mail notice of such prohibition

7 through the inclusion, in the initial banner mes8 sage that is automatically transmitted upon the

9 establishment of a connection to any standard

10 port for accepting electronic mail of any mail

11 host designated to receive mail for the provider

12 (which connection results from an attempt to

13 send any electronic mail), of a textual message

14 reading ‘‘NO UCE’’;

15 (iii) provides a sender of electronic mail

16 notice of such rule or set of rules through the

17 inclusion, in the initial banner message de18 scribed in clause (ii), of a textual message iden19 tifying a publicly available location or means

20 (which may include a telephone number, World

21 Wide Web site, or electronic mail address) at or

22 by which to access the entire rule or set of

23 rules, and that is in the following form: ‘‘UCE

24 POLICY AT ll’’ (the blank being filled in
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1 with information identifying such location or

2 means of access); or

3 (iv) is otherwise publicly posted or other4 wise made publicly available by the electronic

5 mail service provider in a manner reasonably

6 designed to facilitate access to such rule or set

7 of rules by persons using the equipment of the

8 provider to transmit unsolicited commercial

9 electronic mail, at the time of such use.

10 (5) REGISTERED USER.—The term ‘‘registered

11 user’’ means any person that maintains an electronic

12 mail address with an electronic mail service provider.

13 (6) UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL ELECTRONIC

14 MAIL.—The term ‘‘unsolicited commercial electronic

15 mail’’ means any commercial electronic mail that

16 is—

17 (A) addressed to a recipient with whom the

18 initiator of the mail does not have an existing

19 business or personal relationship; and

20 (B) not sent at the request of, or with the

21 express consent of, the recipient.

22 (e) PREEMPTION.—No State or political subdivision

23 thereof may establish, continue in effect, or enforce any

24 provision of law or regulation regarding the transmission

25 of unsolicited commercial electronic mail.
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1 SEC. 3. CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR UNAUTHORIZED USE OF

2 INTERNET DOMAIN NAMES.

3 (a) PROHIBITION.—Section 1030(a) of title 18,

4 United States Code, is amended—

5 (1) in paragraph (7), by inserting ‘‘or’’ after

6 the semicolon at the end; and

7 (2) by inserting after paragraph (7) the fol8 lowing new paragraph:

9 ‘‘(8) knowingly and without authorization uses

10 the Internet domain name of another person in con11 nection with the sending of one or more electronic

12 mail messages and, as a result of such conduct,

13 causes damage to a computer, computer system, or

14 computer network;’’.

15 (b) PENALTIES.—Section 1030(c) of title 18, United

16 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol17 lowing new paragraph:

18 ‘‘(4)(A) a fine under this title, in the case of an

19 offense under subsection (a)(8) of this section, which

20 does not occur after a conviction for another offense

21 under such subsection or an attempt to commit an

22 offense punishable under this subparagraph; and

23 ‘‘(B) a fine under this title or imprisonment for

24 not more than one year, or both, in the case of an

25 offense under subsection (a)(8) which occurs after a

26 conviction for another offense under such subsection,
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1 or an attempt to commit an offense punishable

2 under this subparagraph.’’.

3 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1030(e) of title 18,

4 United States Code, is amended—

5 (1) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

6 end;

7 (2) in paragraph (8)—

8 (A) in subparagraph (A)—

9 (i) by inserting ‘‘(i) except as provided

10 in clause (ii),’’ after ‘‘(A)’’;

11 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or’’ after the semi12 colon at the end; and

13 (iii) by adding at the end the fol14 lowing new clause:

15 ‘‘(ii) in the case of an offense under sub16 section (a)(8), causes any loss in value;’’; and

17 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end;

18 (3) in paragraph (9), by striking the period at

19 the end and inserting a semicolon; and

20 (4) by adding at the end the following new

21 paragraphs:

22 ‘‘(10) the term ‘computer network’ means any

23 system that provides communications or transfer of

24 data between one or more computers or computer

25 systems and input or output devices, including dis-
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1 play terminals and printers connected by tele2 communication facilities;

3 ‘‘(11) the term ‘Internet’ has the meaning given

4 the term in section 230(f) of the Communications

5 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)); and

6 ‘‘(12) the term ‘Internet domain name’ means

7 a globally unique, hierarchical reference to an Inter8 net host or service that is attached to or able to be

9 referenced from the Internet, which—

10 ‘‘(A) consists of a series of character

11 strings separated by periods, with the rightmost

12 character string specifying the top of the hier13 archy; and

14 ‘‘(B) is assigned and registered through a

15 centralized naming authority recognized as a

16 registrant of such references.’’.

17 (d) PREEMPTION.—Section 1030 of title 18, United

18 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol19 lowing new subsection:

20 ‘‘(i) PREEMPTION.—No State or political subdivision

21 thereof may establish, continue in effect, or enforce any

22 provision of law or regulation regarding the use of the

23 Internet domain name of another person in connection
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1 with the sending of one or more electronic mail mes2 sages.’’.

Æ