Taking a Second Shot at Spammers

Spammers who get caught flooding American inboxes with junk mail could find themselves facing prosecution twice -- once at the federal level and once at the state level -- thanks to a largely overlooked clause in the U.S. Can-Spam Act. The clause, noted in 28 words near the bottom of the nation's first federal law against spam, prevents the Can-Spam Act from pre-empting state laws that prohibit "falsity and deception" in commercial e-mails. In other words, states are free to keep certain portions of their existing antispam laws, or even form new ones -- contrary to statements made by critics of the Can-Spam Act.

"This is a very important clause," said America Online spokesman Nicholas Graham. "It hasn't been noticed very much because there is a misperception that the federal Can-Spam bill that went into effect in January pre-empted all state spam laws. But that is not correct."

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