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Utah Anti-Kids-Spam Registry "a Flop"

Posted by kdawson on from the show-me-the-money dept.

Eric Goldman writes "A couple of years ago Utah enacted a 'Child Protection Registry.' The idea was to allow parents to register kids' email addresses and then to require certain email senders to filter their lists against that database before sending their emails. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the Utah registry has been a 'financial flop.' Initially projected to generate $3-6 million in revenues for Utah, it has instead produced total revenues of less than $200,000. 80% of this has gone to Unspam, the for-profit registry operator; Utah's share of the registry's revenues has been a paltry $37,445. Worse, Utah has spent $100,000 (so far) to defend the private company from legal challenges by free-speech, advertising, and porn interests."

3 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Let me get this straight by WarlockD · · Score: 4, Informative
    I think the lawmaker who thought this up just didn't know how these things worked. Hell, look at this nugget.

    According to audio recordings of legislative proceedings, not a single legislator openly questioned the legitimacy, constitutionality or cost of the innocuous-sounding bill, despite written warnings from legislative analysts that it faced a "high probability" of being overturned in court.
    From TFA. They didn't even include the financial estmates on how much the lawsuits would cost:P Its not even just THIS pile of joy. Look at the other "trademark" bill. Why the hell would a company want to pay $250 to trademark itself in Utah for just the internet? Why the hell trademark your stuff in just Utah when the FEDERAL copyright office gives you the same rights? I don't remember where, but didn't the supreme court affirm trademarks work on the internet? Does Utah think they have a "Utah Internet"?

    I always thought Utah was a bit religious, but freaking naive?
  2. Re:CAN-SPAM? Apparently no preemption by whoever57 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Apparently, Judge Dale Kimball has already decided that the CAN-SPAM act does not preempt the Utah law.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  3. Re:Let me get this straight by burnin1965 · · Score: 4, Informative

    This means less cost for the government.


    Is this why Brent Hatch, who lobbied to have this idiotic bill passed, was hired for 3 to 4 times what state attorneys are paid to now defend this idiotic legistation?

    Looks more and more like a scam where local cons are skimming tax dollars.