Proposed law: $500 per unwanted spam

This week, the Californian State Senate approved a bill that, if passed, will make it illegal to send unsolicited e-mail advertising, to the extent that it would also allow people to sue "spammers" for $US500 per unwanted message. "The measure, which was approved Thursday by a vote of 21-to-12, would require Internet marketers to get advance approval from e-mail recipients if they did not already have a business relationship with them." . Although we're sure that many technicalities could potentially arise from this, it is certainly a step in the right direction towards ridding our inboxes of spam. "Currently, California law requires spammers to include "ADV" in the subject line of their e-mail so people will know it is an advertisement. The law also requires spammers to stop sending the e-mails after recipients ask them to or face a $1,000 fine. "

Read the full story at CNN .