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Support - CAN-SPAM Act

In late 2003 President Bush signed a bill into law establishing federal rules for commercial email and penalties for unsolicited mass spamming.

Called the CAN-SPAM Act, the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 came into effect on January 1, 2004. The law prohibits the use of deceptive subject lines and false header information in bulk commercial email and requires unsolicited messages to include opt-out instructions. Penalties for violations include fines of up to $250 per email, up to a total of $6 million.

The CAN-SPAM Act requires commercial emails to be labeled as such, although no standard has yet been established. In addition, promotional emails must now include the company’s physical address.

Critics of the bill say that it will not substantially affect the amount of SPAM we receive daily, because many bulk emailers are outside of the U.S. and therefore are beyond the jurisdiction of the CAN-SPAM Act. Other critics claim that the bill has in effect legalized SPAM as long as the bulk emailers play by the new rules.

The bottom line is this new legislation affects all commercial emailers, even the legitimate ones. If the only promotional email you send out is your company’s newsletter it appears that you must comply with the new legislation. The CAN-SPAM Act necessitates careful compilation and maintenance of your unsubscribe lists to ensure you never again email someone who has opted-out. This can get especially tricky if you rent third-party lists for your email promotions.

Keep in mind that this new anti-spam legislation does not necessarily overrule existing state laws. Check out http://www.spamlaws.com if you need a refresher course on your own state laws.

See the links below for additional information on the CAN-SPAM Act and its implications on permission-based email:

http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html
http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2003/0,4814,88306,00.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A4437-2003Dec16?language=printer http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2555