Political Quotes

“I rise to support the Consumer Anti- Slamming Act, as it addresses a severe problem that has arisen as an unintended consequence of additional competition in the telecommunications marketplace: the unauthorized switching of customers' telephone service providers. I also understand that the managers' amendment of the bill includes language that addresses another serious, unintended problem posed by the growth of information technology: the explosion of junk e-mail, or ``spamming.'' I congratulate Senators Murkowski and Torricelli for their hard work on dealing with the issue of spamming. S. 1618 as amended includes language that would require commercial e-mailers to identify themselves. This language is simply a ``Truth in Advertising Amendment.'' As any of us who use e-mail are finding out, millions of junk e-mails are sent out with fake e-mail addresses which prevent citizens from requesting that they not be sent any further clutter from the same sources. The amendment also requires that a junk e-mailer must honor requests from individuals to be deleted from mailing lists. I should add that the problem of junk e-mail is particularly important to customers in rural areas such as Montana. Often, rural residents must pay long distance charges to receive these unwanted solicitations, many of which contain fraudulent messages. ``Spamming'' is truly the bane of the information age.…”