The CAN-SPAM Act

On December 16, 2003, President Bush signed into law the first ever establish standards for all commercial email marketing. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 short for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003. This directly effects all commercial email marketing. Below is a list of the parts of the law.

• No false, misleading, or spoofed header information. The header information "from" & "to" must be accurate and unchanged. All routing, originating ip addresses, and originating email address must be accurate and unchanged.
• No deceptive subject lines. The subject lines must strictly define what the email is about. No deception is allowed on the purpose or content of the email.
• Email must offer opportunity to opt-out. The email must provide for some means of opting out of the mailer's email list. Meaning that the mailer will no longer send emails to that particular person. The email may offer an opt out email address or possibly a place to opt-out on a website. Email marketer's must comply with the opt-out within 10 days.
• Clear identification as an advertisement. The message must give a clear indication as an advertisement email. The ability to opt-out must be clear, and identifiable. The mailer must also include their physical address in the email message.

According to the US Federal Trade Commission violations violation of the above requirements can lead to fines of up to $11,000. However, there may be additional fines if such violations as below occur.

• Harvesting of email addresses from across the web.
• Randomly generating email addresses to mail to.
• Automated process of registering email addresses to use for commercial mailing purposes.
• Use of computers or proxies for emailing without permission.

Falsifying any of the email information or illegally using another computer for mailing can also lead to criminal penalties such as imprisonment.

Any commercial email marketing must follow these set restrictions. Fortunately the guidelines are fairly straight forward. On top of that the listed provisions really are great for creating an email marketing campaign that truly brings great results. So whether or not small or large, I strongly encourage all email marketers to analyze the CAN-SPAM Act to make sure you are fully compliant in your email marketing.

Resources:

"The CAN-SPAM Act: Requirements for Commercial Emailers." Federal Trade Commission. Apr. 2004. Federal Trade Commission. 21 Aug. 2007 www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.shtm.