FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Arial Software president and CEO Mike Adams backs California’s tough new anti-spam legislation

TUCSON, Ariz. (Sept. 25, 2003) – Email software pioneer Mike Adams supports California’s tough new anti-spam laws, the most stringent prohibition of spam in the nation to date.

“Arial Software is a staunch supporter of real anti-spam legislation like California’s new anti-spam law,” Adams said. “Not the watered-down federal CAN-SPAM bill, or any other legislation which still allows spamming under certain conditions.”

The California legislation, signed into law Sept. 23 by Gov. Gray Davis, would make it illegal for spam marketers and their advertisers to email anyone in California without prior permission or a prior business relationship. Violators would be subject to a fine of $1,000 per email, up to $1 million per email campaign.

Adams said previous anti-spam bills drafted in other states and at the federal level continued to give spammers the right to spam everybody, as long as they include an opt-out or unsubscribe hyperlink. “This is not a practical approach to spam, and such legislation is simply too watered down to effect real change in the escalating spam problem,” Adams said.

“We believe all email addresses are private, and nobody has the right to send unsolicited commercial email to any recipient without an existing relationship,” Adams said.

Adams, who built the first permission email marketing application for the PC in 1993 and has been involved with internet marketing for 15 years, purposefully builds his software with features unfriendly to spammers.

Campaign Enterprise 8 permission email marketing software offers none of the features spammers need to operate their business, such as the ability to forge email headers or hijack outbound SMTP servers. Campaign offers no email harvesting or web spidering features.

Adams also cites Arial Software’s continuing efforts to educate prospective customers, internet marketing industry professionals and the general public about the power of permission marketing.

“Spam harms everyone in this industry. In my opinion, we’ll all be better off when spam is outlawed, and spammers are either fully reformed or fined into bankruptcy,” Adams said.

About Arial Software

Founded in 1993, Arial Software is widely considered the industry leader in comprehensive software designed exclusively for permission marketing and relationship building through personalized email messaging.

The company’s products are implemented by large and small organizations to send personalized emails to customers, prospects, members and subscribers. Arial Software customers using Campaign Enterprise software include XM Satellite Radio, Dell Computer, ToysRUs.com, Solomon Smith Barney and Advanced Micro Devices. Additional company and product information can be found at http://www.arialsoftware.com/presscenter.htm.

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