CAN-SPAM Rules for Internet Marketers
SCAMS SPECIAL INVESTIGATION SERIES
By John Calder
Wednesday, January 5, 2005; 7:00pm EST
On January 1, 2004, the "CAN-SPAM
Act", short for "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited
Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003", took effect. Marketers who
send any form of commercial email as defined by the act will need to
comply with CAN-SPAM rules in order to avoid legal consequences. The
act was designed to reduce unsolicited commercial messages, sent
both as email and to wireless devices such as cell phones.
There is
of course much debate about how effective this law will prove to be
in stopping spam. After all, spammers can easily send their messages
from email servers located overseas, in locations beyond the
effective reach of US enforcement efforts. Many marketers feel that
spam will continue flooding us as ever, while legitimate, opt-in
marketers, who want to comply with the law, will have to jump
through time-consuming and sometimes expensive extra hoops to be
able to send email. In fact, many believe that the act will lead to
an upsurge in spam regardless, because it seems to be legal as long
as it meets the requirements of the act.
For marketers to comply
with the law, they need to follow some simple guidelines provided
for in the legislation. Virtually all marketers who run email lists
are already in compliance with most of the law. Generally, any
business communicating with existing customers or prospects by mail
must include in their emails a valid return email address that is
active for at least 30 days after commercial email is sent; a
physical mailing address, valid and NOT a P.O. Box; and a way for
recipients to opt-out of future mailings. In addition, the subject
line must not be misleading or deceptive, state in some way the
message is an advertisement or commercial in nature, and the
marketer must honor opt-out requests. Again, probably none of that
is too much different from what you're already doing, except perhaps
for the addition of the physical mailing address.
If you send mail
from one of the online mailing services, chances are they've already
asked you to make necessary changes to comply with the act. But if
you run your own autoresponder, have you remembered to add your
physical mailing address so that it will be placed on every email
you send out? Have you added it to any one-time messages that you
may send from the autoresponder accounts that may be included in
your hosting account? Have you added it to any scripts that you have
that generate email?
If you receive any opt-out requests, you must
stop sending email to the requesting account within 10 business
days. Again, for marketers using autoresponder software, that
usually happens immediately, so no worries there. You may also not
sell or lease email addresses of those who opt-out of your mailings
without their consent.
Certain email is exempted from the CAN-SPAM
regulations. For example, email that is transactional in nature, or
that is a "relationship" message, may not be covered. This would
include, for example, sales receipts, announcements of product bug
patches, change of membership login information, etc. Still, to be
safe, it may be best to make sure all of your email communication is
compliant. CAN-SPAM is vague about the rules as they apply to
existing and inactive business relationships, and when such
relationships end.
Now that you're aware of the act's requirements,
you'll want to review every email you send, from every site you own,
to comply with the act and avoid the severe civil and criminal
penalties for non-compliance. This article isn't intended to be
legal advice - see a professional for that.
About the Author
John Calder is the owner/editor of The Ezine Dot Net. Subscribe Today and
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