Worries That Child Anti-Spam Laws Harm Everyone But The Spammers

from the legal-pointlessness dept

Utah and Michigan made a big stink last month by putting in place laws that would create "do not spam" registries for children. Parents could sign up their kids' email, instant messenger addresses and mobile phone numbers -- and anyone caught spamming them would face potential charges. It's not hard to see why this is likely to backfire, and already the press is noticing that this is unlikely to make any spammers really care very much, as they're probably breaking the law already, and usually are pretty confident they won't be caught. However, it is supposedly making a number of businesses reconsider if they want to make use of legitimate email campaigns to any customers in those states. The article doesn't present that much evidence that this is really happening, other than quoting one marketing firm that says it's advising its clients to drop campaigns in those states. However, it does make you wonder how effective these laws can be, and if they have other unintended consequences that could be much worse for the states.

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