The bill expands a law banning unsolicited faxes to include unsolicited commercial email. California is the 11th state to consider such legislation in the last year. A federal anti-spam law is currently stalled in Congress, and many analysts say that many more states may pass similar legislation. According to Direct Mail News, some electronic marketers welcome state action. Markowitz's business model rewards participants with redeemable points that they can use to purchase products.
Users gain points by reading commercial pitches for products.
Only Nevada has passed an email bill at this time. Nevada's Senate Bill 13 goes into effect July 1 and will require commercial email to identify the sender and include instructions on how the recipient can avoid future unsolicited mail from that particular source. A Colorado bill aimed to regulate spam and unsolicited faxes passed in April 1997, but provisions relating to email were deleted before it passed. The California bill, titled Assembly Bill 1629, the Internet Consumer Protection Act, would restrict unsolicited email unless there is a pre-existing relationship between the sender and the recipient. Analysts say spam legislation by individual states could spell trouble for all electronic marketers because even those careful to avoid spamming are regular targets for consumer backlash.