President Bush signed the first national anti-spam bill into law today, restricting junk commercial e-mail and setting jail time and multimillion dollar fines for violators.

“Spam, or unsolicited e-mails, are annoying to consumers and costly to our economy,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said after Bush signed the bill. “This will help address the problems associated with the rapid growth and abuse of spam by establishing a framework of technological, administrative civil and criminal tools, and by providing consumers with options to reduce the volume of unwanted e-mail.”

However, critics say the law is full of loopholes that could increase the amount of spam.

Under the law, consumers are provided with a choice not to receive any further unsolicited messages from a sender. Senders that do not honor a consumer’s request are subject to civil penalties.

The law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, establishes both civil and criminal prohibitions to deter spammers from using false or misleading identification, and imposes penalties against spammers for these violations.

(via The Associated Press)