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I remember reading about a controversial new anti-spam law that was being proposed here in Utah a while back (2003?). Anyway, thanks to the Utah Child Protection Registry Act, here in Utah we have a "do not email" list--similar to the Federal Do Not Call list, but for email--and only for Utah residents (Michigan also has a similar law). They say the list is to protect kids from porn, drugs, gambling, and other unseemly email messages. I feel like a do not email list is a bad idea in general--for several reasons--but a list like that with kids' email addresses is just idiotic. Don't get me wrong--I completely agree with their intentions. I have kids and want to protect them as well, but they should have really gone about this a different way. I mean, seriously people, besides the fact that the whole do not email concept is flawed, now a report has come out of a state employee releasing the email addresses of four minors a few weeks ago.

I hope when this goes before the federal court they figure out that this law is faulty and could potentially do a lot more harm than good--and ditch the list. I just don't believe that the scumbag spammers actually scrub their lists against the do not email registry. If they do and someone out there has benefitted from this registry, I would love to hear about it. Although, you still have that touchy little issue of keeping the addresses out of the hands of potential perpetruators...

Oh, and one last thing, do parents even know that this registry thing exists? I'm a parent who's online about 60- hours a week, yet somehow I never realized it until I saw that article from Media Post in my email today. IF the darn thing worked, it would only be any good if people knew about it and used it.