New Maine Anti-Spam Law Worries Insurers

By Daniel Hays

NU Online News Service, May 28, 11:39 a.m. EDT?A Maine bill restricting unsolicited e-mailings, which has a provision that an insurance trade group is opposed to, will be signed into law today by Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, his office said.

The anti-spam measure was opposed by the National Association of Independent Insurers, based in Des Plaines, Ill. The group said yesterday they had expressed a concern to the governor that the measure may interfere with legitimate electronic communications that insurers have with their consumers.

The bill, (LD255) is designed to halt the avalanche of unwanted advertisements and solicitations that arrive by e-mail. It drew only two opposing votes when it was approved by the Maine House of Representatives.

Provisions of the measure require senders to include return e-mail addresses so recipients can respond if they don't want any more messages. Commercial e-mails are required to include in the subject line the coding of "ADV" to show it is an advertisement or "ADV:ADLT" for material containing adult subject matter.

Unsolicited commercial e-mail sent in violation of the law would be considered an unfair trade practice. The bill also grants complete immunity to e-mail service providers who block communications they believe to be in violation of the act.

The NAII said that it understands and supports the effort to place restrictions on unsolicited e-mail, but Ann Weber, counsel for NAII, said, "a carte blanche blanket immunity may very well result in prohibitions of legitimate electronic communication between an insurer and policyholder," referring to the immunity for service providers that block e-mails. "A very real potential for abuse is present if there are no consequences for interfering with legitimate electronic communications," she said.

"This type of intrusion with business communications could be harmful to consumers if important communications

are mistakenly blocked. Immunity is unnecessary and improper due to the potential for harm."

NAII has more than 715 member companies that write more than $101 billion in annual premium.

Ms. Weber said NAII had a concern because larger insurers such as GEICO and Progressive do a lot of correspondence with through e-mail.

She noted that the legislature had included exception for e-mails from companies where there is "an established business relationship. But, we just feel the total immunity goes too far and they [Internet service providers] may restrict legitimate business correspondence."

Special Reports /

New Maine Anti-Spam Law Worries Insurers

Related Stories

Recommended For You