WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- House and Senate negotiators have reached an agreement on anti-spam legislation aimed at stopping the proliferation of unwanted commercial e-mail.
The compromise measure would establish a national "do not spam" list similar in design to the incredibly popular "do not call" registry instituted earlier this year.
The bill would make sending fraudulent spam a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and allow damages up to $2 million for violators, tripled for international violations.
The registry and enforcement would be overseen by the Federal Trade Commission, even though Chairman Timothy J. Muris has said such a list would be not be effective in stopping the onslaught of spam into the nation's e-mail folders.
The House is expected to consider the compromise bill as early as today with the Senate likely to follow sometime in the near future.
