FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: John Mozena
         (313) 885-0414
         (810) 595-9964 (Pager)


HOUSE COMMERCE COMMITTEE DROPS DANGEROUS SPAM 
PROVISIONS FROM HR 3888, CAUCE APPLAUDS ACTION

SEPTEMBER 25, 1998 -- The Internet as a political entity took a gigantic
step toward adulthood yesterday as the House Commerce Committee removed
language from HR 3888 that would have effectively legitimized junk e-mail
("spam") after Net users and providers rose up to protest the amendment. 

Introduced by Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA), HR 3888 dealt in large part with
telephone "slamming," but had an amendment added that would have
legitimized spam as long as the sender complied with weak identification
and list maintenance requirements. The Coalition Against Unsolicited
Commercial E-Mail (CAUCE) opposed the portion of the bill that dealt with
spam, and called for its removal.

Joined by the Internet Service Providers' Consortium, the Commercial
Internet Exchange, Hotmail Corporation and other major Internet companies
and organizations, CAUCE submitted testimony to Congress and mobilized its
more than 12,000 members to oppose the legislation as it was written.
After public and private conversations with legislators and commitee
staff, the final product that the Commerce Committee sent to the full
House reads as follows:


  TITLE II--SPAMMING
  SEC. 201. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.
  It is the sense of the Congress that--
  (1) in order to avoid interference with the rapid
      development and expansion of commerce over the
      Internet, the Congress should decline to enact regu-
      latory legislation with respect to unfair or intrusive
      practices on the Internet that the private sector can,
      given a sufficient opportunity, deter or prevent; and
  (2) it is the responsibility of the private sector
      to use that opportunity promptly to adopt, imple-
      ment, and enforce measures to deter and prevent the
      improper use of unsolicited commercial electronic
      mail.

"While we would rather have seen Congress ban spam entirely, we applaud
Representative Tauzin, Chairman Bliley and the rest of the Commerce
Committee for their decision to step back from flawed legislation," said
CAUCE co-founder and legislative liason Ray Everett-Church. "They were
willing to listen to Internet users and providers, and we thank them for
the time and effort they put into this process."

CAUCE continues to believe that industry self-regulation and technical
methods are incapable of stopping spam, and supports legislation that
would require marketers to get permission before sending commercial e-mail
advertisements.

"The democratic process worked in this instance, and it's a great day for
the Net," said CAUCE co-founder and vice president John Mozena. "While
this still needs to go through the House, and then survive the conference
committee with the Senate, it's a great sign that Net users and system
administrators were able to make their voices heard on Capitol Hill."

About CAUCE:

CAUCE is the world's largest "virtual organization," with more than 12,000
members across the United States and supporters across the world. It
supports and works toward passage of HR 1748, sponsored by Rep. Chris
Smith (R-NJ), which would extend the "junk fax" provisions of the
Telephone Consumer Protection Act to include junk e-mail. CAUCE has no
budget, no office and is run by an all-volunteer board using donated
resources. For more information about CAUCE, visit its Web site at: