House Ponders Anti-Spam Bill

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July 08, 2003 (10:27 AM EDT)

The U.S. House of Representatives took another step Tuesday in its race to keep up with the anti-spam advocates in the Senate by holding the first of what will undoubtedly be a series of hearings on spam legislation.

Tuesday morning, Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) opened the campaign for his Rid Spam Act, which he introduced in late May. He presented the bill before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

Questions from the subcommittee members ran the usual gamut of recent anti-spam hearings in Congress, but true to the subcommittee's purview, some members voiced concern that the Justice Department's resources would be stretched thin, and worried that anti-spam efforts would take away from the ongoing battle against terrorists.

Assistant Attorney General William Moschella promised that his department would not let that work slide to battle spam. But he admitted that fighting junk e-mail will be a tough task. "It's true," he said, "that we will not be able to go after every spammer. But the most egregious type of spam can be dealt with by the Justice Department."

On Wednesday, Rep. Tauzin -- the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee -- will bring together two of his subcommittees for a review of all the current anti-spam legislation now before Congress, including his own bill.

On the schedule to speak at the hearing tomorrow are representatives from the Federal Trade Commission and Consumers Union, and industry officials from companies including AOL and Earthlink, two of the nation's largest Internet service providers.