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The
CAN-SPAM Act:
The
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited
Pornography and Marketing Act) establishes requirements for those
who send commercial email, spells out penalties for spammers and
companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the
law, and gives consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming
them.
The law,
which became effective January 1, 2004, covers email whose primary
purpose is advertising or promoting a commercial product or service,
including content on a Web site. A "transactional or relationship
message" – email that facilitates an agreed-upon transaction or
updates a customer in an existing business relationship – may not
contain false or misleading routing information, but otherwise is
exempt from most provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act.
The Federal
Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, is
authorized to enforce the CAN-SPAM Act. CAN-SPAM also gives the
Department of Justice (DOJ) the authority to enforce its criminal
sanctions. Other federal and state agencies can enforce the law
against organizations under their jurisdiction, and companies that
provide Internet access may sue violators, as well.
What the
Law Requires
Here's a
rundown of the law's main provisions:
-
It bans false
or misleading header information.
Your email's "From,"
"To," and routing information – including the originating domain
name and email address – must be accurate and identify the
person who initiated the email.
-
It prohibits
deceptive subject lines.
The subject line cannot
mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of
the message.
-
It requires
that your email give recipients an opt-out method.
You
must provide a return email address or another Internet-based
response mechanism that allows a recipient to ask you not to
send future email messages to that email address, and you must
honor the requests. You may create a "menu" of choices to allow
a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you
must include the option to end any commercial messages from the
sender.
Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out
requests for at least 30 days after you send your commercial
email. When you receive an opt-out request, the law gives you 10
business days to stop sending email to the requestor's email
address. You cannot help another entity send email to that
address, or have another entity send email on your behalf to
that address. Finally, it's illegal for you to sell or transfer
the email addresses of people who choose not to receive your
email, even in the form of a mailing list, unless you transfer
the addresses so another entity can comply with the law.
-
It requires
that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and
include the sender's valid physical postal address.
Your message must contain clear and conspicuous notice that the
message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the
recipient can opt out of receiving more commercial email from
you. It also must include your valid physical postal address.
Penalties
Each
violation of the above provisions is subject to fines of up to
$11,000. Deceptive commercial email also is subject to laws banning
false or misleading advertising.
Additional
fines are provided for commercial emailers who not only violate the
rules described above, but also:
-
"harvest" email
addresses from Web sites or Web services that have published a
notice prohibiting the transfer of email addresses for the
purpose of sending email
-
generate email
addresses using a "dictionary attack" – combining names,
letters, or numbers into multiple permutations
-
use scripts or other
automated ways to register for multiple email or user accounts
to send commercial email
-
relay emails through a
computer or network without permission – for example, by taking
advantage of open relays or open proxies without authorization.
The law
allows the DOJ to seek criminal penalties, including imprisonment,
for commercial emailers who do – or conspire to:
-
use another computer
without authorization and send commercial email from or through
it
-
use a computer to relay
or retransmit multiple commercial email messages to deceive or
mislead recipients or an Internet access service about the
origin of the message
-
falsify header
information in multiple email messages and initiate the
transmission of such messages
-
register for multiple
email accounts or domain names using information that falsifies
the identity of the actual registrant
-
falsely represent
themselves as owners of multiple Internet Protocol addresses
that are used to send commercial email messages.
Additional Rules
The FTC
will issue additional rules under the CAN-SPAM Act involving the
required labeling of sexually explicit commercial email and the
criteria for determining "the primary purpose" of a commercial
email. Look for the rule covering the labeling of sexually explicit
material in April 2004; "the primary purpose" rulemaking will be
complete by the end of 2004. The Act also instructs the FTC to
report to Congress in summer 2004 on a National Do Not E-Mail
Registry, and issue reports in the next two years on the labeling of
all commercial email, the creation of a "bounty system" to promote
enforcement of the law, and the effectiveness and enforcement of the
CAN-SPAM Act.
Other sites:
databaseappending.com
directmailllc.com emailmarketingservers.com
robocallservices.com
The Miller Group, LLC is fully compliant with
CAN-SPAM
Act of 2003 © 2001 The Miller Group, LLC.
All Rights Reserved.
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