Politicians 2, Spam 0

California Senator Deborah Bowen's anti-spam bill, which would permit private individuals to recover the greater of actual damages or $500 per violation (see previous discussion), cleared its first legislative hurdle by passing the Senate's Business and Professions committee Monday. USA Today and the San Jose Mercury News have more.

In another development that bodes well for reducing the world's overall spam volume, not to mention the future of political campaigns, "Gary Hart is BLOGGING." [via Glenn Reynolds and Jenny Levine]