September 23, 2003
Spam to and from California to end Jan 2004.
California Governor Gray Davis today signed into law a bill that prohibits spam both to and from California as of the new year. Amazing. Articles from the
LA Times and
NY Times. And apparently they're serious about enforcing it.
But at a news conference today, Kathleen Hamilton, the director of California Department of Consumer Affairs, promised that the state was ready to enforce the new law when it takes effect on Jan. 1.
``There will be a focus to make sure that once this law is in effect that advertisers abide by it so consumers and businesses are free from unsolicited spam,'' she said.
This should have ramifications far beyond California. For one thing it's the spammer's responsibility to make sure the recipient doesn't live in California, not the other way around, so they'll at least have to go through their lists and make sure. And another is that many of these so-called businesses are centered in California, so at the very least they'll have to move.
This is great. We may actually get our computers back. I must confess. At first I thought the California recall was a huge joke, but they sure to seem to be churning out the legislation here lately. Some of it may be ill-considered, or sloppy or such. But damn, for once the politicians are really getting off their duffs. Nothing anywhere could ever restore my faith in so-called American democracy, but it's rather interesting. Naturally the real test is in the enforcement. There are tons of great laws on the books, both in California and the US. The problem isn't the lack of legislation, but the lack of enforcement.
Now how about some limits on how many TV commercials can be shown in any given time period? I'm really getting fed up at this. It's killing TV.
