NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Legislation to block the unwanted e-mail known as "spam" is likely to be signed into law soon, but critics say the law will do relatively little to block junk e-mail.
The House voted overwhelmingly Saturday for a bill to outlaw most Internet spam and create a "do not spam" registry for those who do not wish to receive unsolicited junk e-mail.
Online marketers who flood e-mail in-boxes with pornography offers and get-rich-quick schemes would face multimillion-dollar fines and jail time under the measure. It passed by a vote of 392-5 at dawn Saturday, following an all-night session of the House that was largely devoted to a separate Medicare bill.
The Senate unanimously passed a similar anti-spam bill last month, but it must assent to the House changes before the measure can become law. The Senate is expected to do so Monday. President Bush is expected to sign the measure.
Some critics say the new legislation will not be effective in stemming the tide of spam. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the Federal Trade Commission, charged with coming up with a "Do Not Spam" list that would allow consumers to block the unwanted e-mail, has neither the technology nor the staffing to establish such a registry.
The Journal also reports that while the bill expands the FTC's enforcement powers, it limits enforcement to the FTC and state attorneys general. The newspaper said that provision would block some state laws that let consumers file private suits against mass mailers.
"This bill has all the earmarks of what we have seen fail in states that have passed anti-spam laws," said Ray Everett-Church, chief privacy officer of the ePrivacy Group, told the Journal. "Christmas has come early for the spammers."
Anti-spam bills have died in Congress for six years while unsolicited commercial e-mail has grown from a nuisance to a plague that threatens to derail the Internet's most popular means of communication.
Spam now makes up more than half of all e-mail, according to several surveys, and even online marketers have come to support some restrictions.
Lawmakers said spam has become a top constituent concern, and they also faced hundreds of unwanted messages daily.
Spam "cripples computer networks and makes regular e-mail checking a seemingly endless hassle," said House Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La.
Lawmakers faced additional pressure to put a national law into place after California passed a tough anti-spam bill earlier this year. Online marketers say it would be difficult to comply with a patchwork of conflicting state laws.
The House bill, which would override state anti-spam laws, would allow businesses to send unsolicited e-mail to Internet users until they are asked to stop, an approach that some anti-spam activists say would only lead to more spam.
It would outlaw spammers' attempts to cover their tracks by requiring marketers to identify themselves clearly and avoid misleading subject lines or return addresses. Pornographic messages would have to be clearly labeled as such to allow users to more easily filter them out.
Violators would face millions of dollars in fines and up to five years in jail. The bill would not allow individuals to sue spammers.
It also would outlaw cell-phone spam, which is commonplace in Europe and Asia. Under the provision, subscribers to cell phone services would not receive text-message spam unless they have provided express authorization.
America Online Inc., the nation's No. 1 online service, applauded the bill, saying it would help turn the tide against spam. "This law will be a significant weapon for the online industry in the ongoing fight to can the spam and thwart the spam kingpins," the company said in a statement. AOL is a unit of Time Warner Inc., parent of CNN/Money.
-- Reuters contributed to this story.
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