By Jan Carroza
Effective since January 1, 2004, the CAN SPAM1 Act, legislation at the Federal level, is meant to address email marketing of commercial messages. I continue to see emails that don’t comply. The stakes are nothing to ignore: up to $16,000 per violation and possible prosecution by the Dept. of Justice.
We have a long way to go to educate advertisers:
81% of email marketers are unaware of CAN-SPAM Act2
Advertisers have a long way to go to impress their consumers and not be reported as spammers:
80% of consumers use “Report Spam” button if they do not
recognize sender by viewing “From” or “Subject” line.3
Here are the highlights of what advertisers and email “push” partners need to tackle:
1. Identify email as an advertisement.
2. Identify “sender” and “initiator,” basically meaning the advertiser and the company originating or transmitting on the advertiser’s behalf.
This means:
a.”From” must be accurate and not mislead (From: AtoZ Company) with “sender’s” email address
b. Publish “sender” physical or PO Box address
c. No forged email headers
3. Subject line must be relevant and not misleading.
4. Provide a workable opt-out solution:
a. Unsubscribe or opt-out links MUST WORK and one for each advertiser and affiliate network where both are present
b. 10 days to remove from list and not receive further messages
c. Maintain and provide secured suppression list of those unsubscribers for use by email push distributors
5. Know how the servers that send email for your company are secured. Make sure that they cannot offer opportunities for 3rd parties to relay messages through them.
6. Know the origin of all lists you rent.
Here are the possible penalties for ignoring the Act:
1. Each separate violation can carry a fine up to $16,000 enforced by the Federal Trade Commission.
2. Prosecution by the Dept. of Justice who may seek criminal penalties, including imprisonment, for commercial emailers who violate or conspire to violate this Act.
Enforcement has started to crack down on offending emailers. FTC Halts Illegal Spam Operation: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/05/atmglobal.shtm.
In the future, we may see that the FTC might create a “do-not-spam” list like the “do-not-call” list that affects telemarketing:
http://news.cnet.com/2010-1028-5119513.htm
For more details, read more at:
Legal Overview of CAN SPAM and FTC Compliance: http://bit.ly/gM79q
FTC Spam Summit/Next Generation of Threats and Solutions: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/spamsummit/presentations/Defining-the-Problem.pdf
The CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm
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1 Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act
2 WebSurveyor Corp (2006)
3 Email Sender and Provider Coalition Survey, Dec. 2006
