] Falsifying e-mail header information or using either a
] mail server or open relay to "deceive or mislead
] recipients" about the origin of a commercial e-mail
] message. Also outlawed is registering for "5 or more"
] e-mail accounts or "2 or more domain names" with false
] information and using them to send commercial e-mail
] messages. Penalties include up to three years in prison
] for a first offense.

Most of the provisions of the new anti-spam law are reasonable in that they target the sort of behavior that most of us have a problem with. It remains to be seen if the government will effectively enforce this legislation. I honestly doubt it as I remain fairly convinced that abuse of open relays is already illegal, but I've heard it argued that prosecutions under existing law have failed. We'll see...

Of note, however, is a certain section of the law which does not just target bulk commercial email, but targets ALL anonymous commercial email including transactional messages.

What that means is that it is basically illegal to run an ecash based service behind anonymous remailers because you are not allowed to send transactional messages to your customers through the remailer network.

In short, the U.S. Congress just banned nearly all effective forms of data haven under the auspices of protecting you from spam.

This, I must say, I oppose.

House passes antispam bill - Bans all anonymous business on the internet