Ben Isaacson, executive director of the Association for Interactive Marketing (AIM), had just returned from Capitol Hill when DIRECT caught up with him. He had been lobbying to limit federal e-mail legislation and promote self-regulation in other interactive areas.
DIRECT: AIM is in favor of a federal law on e-mail?
ISAACSON: There are 22 state laws about e-mail and spam on the books. The state laws are confusing the marketplace. Our primary objective is to pre-empt these state laws with one federal law, so the law is uniform across the country. And we want a federal law that would go after the fraudulent e-mail users.
DIRECT: What bills are you watching in Congress?
ISAACSON: There are two primary e-mail bills. The one that we don’t support has some momentum, the Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Act of 2001 (HR 718), sponsored by Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM). This bill had passed committee and would go up to the floor for a vote, but it is nowhere near the agenda right now.
DIRECT: What do you want to see in federal legislation?
ISAACSON: We are concerned about a law that would dictate to the direct marketing industry how to operate their own businesses. For example, the California law requires e-mail marketers use labeling such as
