I received the following ‘hypothetical’ question by email this week. (*Disclaimer: This is a hypothetical question receiving a general information answer.)
The Question:
“If a person has an email list, about say classic trucks, and then that person hit’s the list with an affiliate promotion for a marketing product; Is that spam?”
I believe the question the reader is getting at is – Can people send non related offers (i.e. marketing product offer to a classic trucks enthusiasts list) to opt in lists?
The Answer:
It depends. The classic lawyer answer! OK, I will do better than that. With SPAM the answer almost always comes down to what is the purpose of the email. To arrive at that conclusion you should evaluate the following:
1. How were the addresses acquired?
David Mink, Legal
CAN SPAM ACT
As of 2008 there are 37 states in the USA, which have passed an anti-spam law to regulate unsolicited commercial email. Each one of these 37 states has a unique law, as there is no uniform state law. Despite there being no uniform law most anti-spam statutes, as well as the federal CAN SPAM ACT, primarily aim to prevent deception. Deception is the hallmark of SPAM.
The following is a short list comprising most of the email campaigning ‘do’s and dont’s’:
- You must provide an easy “opt-out” option
- Once a person has opted out you may no longer send messages to him/her
- You may not Include false or misleading content (in the header, source, path, or subject line)
- If the recipient has not “opted in” to your list you must include ADV: as the first item in the header (short for advertisement)
David Mink, Legal
CAN SPAM ACT, spam laws, state anti-spam statutes
If you hate spam you may have experienced a very pleasant surprise this week – the volume of unsolicited commercial email, a.k.a. spam, has dropped by almost 66% this week thanks to McColo Corp’s demise. McColo is a northern-California based hosting provider, which was responsible for nearly 75% of spam sent each day.
Great news, right? Yes, but you probably should not expect the lull to last very long. In September, following the downfall of Intercage (another northern-California hosting provider used by criminal spammers), Spammers were off the grid for only a few days before finding another home for their activities.
The legal fight against spam is multi-faced, but not very strong: 1) you have the Federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, which has been roundly criticized for its lack of enforcement, and 2) 37 states which have enacted some type of State Anti Spam Law, these laws have also been very poorly enforced.
David Mink, Legal
anti spam laws, CAN SPAM ACT
