News Release

October 20, 2003

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Cato Experts Available for Comment on Senate Anti-Spam Bill

Cato telecommunications policy experts Adam Thierer and Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. are available for comment on the anti-spam legislation now on the Senate's agenda for this week.

Crews, Cato's director of technology studies, is the author of "Why Canning Spam Is a Bad Idea." Crews writes that "it's not apparent that businesses selling legitimate products have any less right to use e-mail than anyone else, and laws targeting only the most egregious spam won't work, because perpetrators will simply relocate offshore."

Thierer, director of telecommunications studies, and Crews are coauthors of "Whatever Happened to Leaving the Internet Unregulated?" in which they warn that "in the perfectly understandable desire to stop unsolicited mail, it is all too easy for Congress to undermine legitimate commerce, communications and free speech. And crippling Internet commerce would be especially pointless if spam continues pouring in from overseas."