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New FTC CAN SPAM Rules ProvisionIn Effect July 7th All U.S. Commercial Email Must Comply
How this new ruling will affect commercial emails sent from and to recipients in the United States with the intent of reducing unwanted electronic mailings.
In 2003 the U.S. Government responded to the complaints of “spam” or unwanted emails by creating an act titled the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. It went into effect January 1st, 2004 focused on emails ‘whose primary purpose is advertising or promoting a commercial product or service, including content on a Web site.’ The Federal Trade Commission approved a new rule provision on May 12, 2008 for the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing, or CAN-SPAM). The original act laid out guidelines for all commercial emails sent and/or received in the United States. Those laws included but were not limited to:
Penalties for not complying with the federal laws included up to $11,000 fines as well criminal penalties for such acts as false representation of commercial email messages and the unauthorized use of someone else’s computer to send commercial email. New ProvisionsThe Final Rule as discussed in the 109 page PDF file titled 16 CFR Part 316 states the new provisions include four topics:
The first provision requires that opt-out methods can not be fee-based for the recipient. It also states that the recipient should not be required to give more information than the recipient’s email address and opt-out preferences. Finally the steps to opt-out shall not include more than a single webpage visit or sending a reply email message. To address the issue of responsibilities when multiple parties are involved in advertising in a single email campaign the Act modified its definition of “sender” in the second provision. The third provision addresses the issue of commercial email senders with a post office box registered with the United States Postal Service. It allows for PO Box addresses to fill the requirements for a valid physical address in each commercial email message. In the fourth provision the Act’s term “person” was defined to spell out that responsibility for compliance was not “limited to natural persons.” Consumer Help for Unwanted EmailsThe FTC does provide handouts on many obvious forms of spam and scam emails on their Spam: for Consumers website. To report various forms of email spam consumers can follow the directions on the online FTC Complaint Assistant Form. Complaints are collected and used by civil and criminal law enforcement authorities around the world. The form is also available in Spanish.
The copyright of the article New FTC CAN SPAM Rules Provision in E-Mail is owned by Amy Kreydin. Permission to republish New FTC CAN SPAM Rules Provision in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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