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Summary of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
January 1, 2004 the new "Can Spam" Act went into effect, much to the relief
of legitimate email marketers everywhere. No longer do they have to follow the
24 separate state laws, each with their own rules for sending commercial bulk
email. The new federal law overrides all existing state laws. Even better, the
tough new California law was also pre-empted, which would have attempted to
outlaw any bulk email at all sent into California. Many doubted that particular
law would have held water, due to the burden placed on the sender (you cannot
get the location of a person from an email address, unlike phone numbers that
have an area code prefix). Among other advantages, recipients cannot sue the
senders of bulk email. Now, there's just one law of the land and one set of much easier rules
for email marketers to follow.
Summary of the requirements for sending unsolicited bulk email under the
new law:
You must honor remove requests within business 10 days.
Use a valid return address (return address must remain active for 30 days after
mailing)
Cannot use misleading subject lines.
Include physical address in the message (even if it's a PO box).
Sexually oriented messages must be clearly labeled in the subject line.
Cannot forge headers.
Cannot sell your remove list for others to mail to.
Makes it illegal to send through "protected computers" without authorization. In
short, hacking into a persons computer to send mail is illegal. [The email submission (mailing) software sold on our site will allow you to send email in a safe and legal manner.]
Harvesting:
You cannot "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. This is mainly
to protect commercial sites like Ebay, Monster.com, domain registrars, etc. from
having custom harvesters written to collect emails of it's members/customers. [When used properly email harvesting/extraction software can harvest thousands of email addresses without placing you in violation of the law.]
The below information is required for email marketers who promote adult sites / content.
RE: New (amended) FTC Can-Spam Rule
As you know, the United States Congress recently enacted the CAN-SPAM Act. As directed by the Act, the FTC has just issued its
final Rule to prescribe a mark to be included in all commercial electronic mail that contains sexually oriented materials.
The Rule is scheduled to become effective May 19, 2004.
Following are the requirements of the final FTC Rule that you must comply with when sending sexually oriented email to
promote adult products:
1. The exact phrase "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT:" must be contained in capital letters as the first 19 characters at the beginning of
the subject line. This phrase in the subject line must be in ASCII format.
2. The exact phrase "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT:" must be in capital letters as the first 19 characters in the "brown paper wrapper"
area of the email message. The Brown Paper Wrapper refers to the opening portion of the e-mail that is immediately visible
to the recipient, without scrolling down or taking any other affirmative steps to view the message. Sexually explicit material
can be displayed beneath the "brown paper wrapper" area of the email message or accessible by clicking on a link.
3. A valid postal address must be displayed in the "brown paper wrapper" area of the email message. You must include the following:
EXAMPLE:
This offer was sent on behalf of:
Adult Sponsor Name
Sponsor Address
Sponsors, City and State
Sponsor Zip Code
In addition, the "brown paper wrapper" area must indicate that the message itself is an advertisement or solicitation, and
contain an e-mail address that the recipient can reply to declining any further commercial e-mail messages from the sender.
4. As CAN SPAM covers both visual images as well as the written word, the subject line must not contain text with written
descriptions of Sexually Explicit Conduct. Also the "brown paper wrapper" area of the email message must not contain Materials
with Sexually Explicit Conduct. Sexually Explicit Conduct means actual or simulated sexual intercourse [including genital-genital,
oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether heterosexual or homosexual]; bestiality; masturbation; sadistic or masochistic
abuse; or lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of a human being.
*Note: The content of this web page is provided for general informational and reference purposes only and is not meant to constitute legal advice or to be a substitute for seeking legal advice.
For Detailed Information Regarding the Law, Please Use The Links Below:
Federal Trade Commission - Can Spam Act
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