Will CAN-SPAM Act 2003 Stop Spam and how to comply?

The new US anti-spam law CAN-SPAM Act 2003, which will take effect on 1 January, 2004 will have a sweeping effect on the practice of email marketing, for both US and non-US marketers

(PRWEB) December 22, 2003 --The new US anti-spam law CAN-SPAM Act 2003, which will take effect on 1 January, 2004 will have a sweeping effect on the practice of email marketing, for both US and non-US marketers, according to a statement by Fione Tan, President and CEO of eOneNet.com, Malaysias leading Internet marketing services provider.

CAN-SPAM does not mean you can spam! It is the acronym for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act".

The law covers commercial electronic mail message", which is defined as any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service (including content on an Internet website operated for a commercial purpose)"

Transactional or relationship emails such as billing statements, warranty information, follow-up emails to customers are excluded from this definition.

The law does not make sending spam illegal per se. In fact, sending spam is illegal only if whoever knowingly send commercial emails -
1)   with the intent to deceive or mislead recipients as to the origin of such emails;
2)   and materially falsify header information in the emails, such as the originating domain name and email address and other information which identifies the sender of the message;
3)   with deceptive subject headings,
4)   without containing a return email address for unsubscribe request, which should remain functioning for no less than 30 days after the sending of the emails;
5)   to those recipients more than 10 business days after the unsubscribe request. It is also illegal to sell or lease these email addresses;
6)   wthout containing clear identification that the message is an advertisement or solicitation;
7)   without a clear notice of the unsubscribe opportunity;
8)   without a valid physical postal address of the sender;
9)   to emails harvested by automated means;
10)   containing sexually oriented material without including in subject heading or the first paragraph of the email identifiable marks or notices that the email contains such sexually oriented material.

The offence also covers cases where affiliates or other people promoting your business, products, or services in an email which violates the law if:
1)   you know or should have known that such is being promoted in a violating email;
2)   you took no reasonable action to prevent the transmission or to detect the transmission and report it to the relevant authority.

The penalties for breach is a fine of up to $250 per violating email sent up to a maximum of $2,000,000 (subject to an increase of up to 3 times of this amount for aggravated damages defined under the Act), imprisonment of up to 5 years and forfeiture of money made from the offence and equipment and software used to facilitate the commission of such offence.

This Act supersedes all state law and regulation relating to sending emails.

The law will also affect non-US marketers, according to Tan.

For those who send emails outside US, they will be caught by this Act if they send emails to emails addresses in the US. However, the enforcement will need the co-operation of the countries from where the violating emails were initiated," said Tan.

The law does not make sending unsolicited emails illegal. On the contrary, it makes it legal as long as the emails are being sent in compliance with the law. This means you will still receive all the spam you have been receiving and probably more, unless you tell them to stop, one by one!" Tan added.

eOneNet.com is the leading Internet marketing coach and services provider with multinational clients including FujiXerox, NEC, Apple Malaysia etc. For enquiries, visit www.eOneNet.com or email info@eOneNet.com