The US Senate Commerce Committee has put forward a bill which will attempt to curtail the proliferation of spam, the junk mail and false trading practices which are ever-present on the World Wide Web.
Anti-spam legislation already exists in 21 states, and the Federal Trade Commission vigorously pursues violators of trading laws where they can be detected, but prosecution appears to have little effect.
The new legislation would strengthen the FTC's powers and allow them to impose fines of up to $30 per e-mail. Internet service providers will also be able to sue spammers who use their services.

http://www.usatoday.com /life /cyber /tech /2002 /05 /03 /spam-bill.htm

At the same time, the US House of Representatives has put forward legislation to curb the practice of supplying false information when registering domain names. It will become a crime to do so 'knowingly and with the intent to defraud', and incur fines and prison sentences of up to five years.

http://www.bizreport.com /article.php?art_id=3394&PHPSESSID=ae915c0cce331c059f3ec91c481e997a