* Two new laws in California

The state of California has two new laws about spam that went
into effect at the beginning of 1999.

CAUCE supported AB 1629, now section 17538.45 of the California
Business and Professions code, introduced by Assembly members Gary
Miller (who is now in the U.S. House of Representatives) and Jim
Cunneen.  The law treats spam as a property rights issue, and makes it
illegal to send UCE in violation of an e-mail provider's policy, with
the right to sue for $50/message in case of violation.  The law
suggests but does not mandate that a banner such as described in the
next item in this newsletter is an appropriate way to announce the
policy.

This law strengthens the ability of each Internet Service Provider or
other e-mail provider within California to establish and enforce its
own rules about UCE.  Although this bill isn't as simple as the Smith
bill in the U.S. House, we believe that the emphasis on property
rights is sound, and the bill wisely avoids mandating any particular
language in UCE which could create First Amendment problems.

An unrelated law, AB 1676, now part of section 17538.4, introduced by
Assembly member Debra Bowen also was passed about the same time.  It
shares many of the same legal and technical problems as last year's
Federal HR 3888 -- it mandates tags within the messages, and
individual opt-out from by each recipient from each advertiser.  CAUCE
did not support this bill.