On Thursday, Sep 25, 2003, at 06:54 Canada/Eastern, Barry Murphy wrote:

"California will prohibit Internet advertisers from sending unsolicited emails under the toughest law of its kind in the United States, providing for fines of up to $1-million (about R7-million).

Governor Gray Davis signed legislation this week that targets not only the firms that package and send spam to consumers, but also the companies whose products and services are being advertised"

I especially like the last setence above. full story at:

http://www.iol.co.za/ index.php?click_id=79&art_id=vn20030925032433274C679599&set_id=1

I don't know much about the law in California, but I know someone who does: http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/nanog/msg14497.html "since this law legitimizes most forms of spam while attempting to delegitimize only the kinds of spam where you can't get recourse because of untraceability, it will do far far far more harm than good. the time is now coming when actions which prevent (or actors who prevent) the forms of spam which are legitimized in sb186 may be civilly penalizable. OUCH. when i read heinlein's "magic, inc." i thought there actually had to be underworld demons in political power before this kind of thing could happen, but i now see that i completely missed the point of the story." Joe