Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography
and Marketing Act of 2003
by Sanders Consultation Group Plus

CANSPAM Act of 2003 and How it Will Affect Our Marketing Campaigns
Government Decisions - Basic Decisions About Findings to Establish Guidelines for the CANSPAM Act of 2003

After gathering all of these findings, the Congress made some decisions about unsolicited commercial email. The decisions are as follows, copied, and pasted directly from the act.

1. There is a substantial government interest in regulation of commercial electronic mail on a nationwide basis;
2. Senders of commercial electronic mail should not mislead recipients as to the source or content of such mail; and
3. Recipients of commercial electronic mail have a right to decline to receive additional commercial electronic mail from the same source.

Thus far, you will notice that the decisions are based upon human rights and our rights to determine what types of email we are exposed to. Whether or not it should be the government that enforces these rights, or the commercial companies self policing their own ranks is of little relevance here. There are many arguments on this topic. We are here to look at the law and how it applies to each of us in our own endeavors in self-employment.

What this all means so far is there should be some established relationship between the email initiator and the receiver. Does that mean you can't send out a one-time message trying to gain additional clients? Not necessarily. Within the law, they outline procedures that should be used when sending commercial email. The biggest thing is to comply with the decisions outlined above. When creating your email, do not mislead the reader. Conspicuously identify the email's commercial nature in the subject line. Make sure you send from a current email address that allows the receiver to opt-out. Either use a program that automatically removes the receiver, or make sure the opt-out address is accessible so you can manually remove them. Make sure the opt-out link or email opt-out link is prominently displayed in ALL commercial email you send. If you profit from your email list, and you sell this information to others as an opt-in list, you must also make sure to remove them from any lists you sell to others.

If you are going to establish an opt-in list, you could use the one time email with an option for them to subscribe to your list. I would suggest that you establish a privacy policy on your site and link directly to it in any such emails you send to gain opt-in customers. Of course, if they follow the opt-out conditions, then I would suggest you immediately remove them and send no further email to their address. When you get opt-in responses, I would suggest that you keep records of their information. At least keep a list of the email they opted in with, the date of the opt-in, and a boilerplate of the email you used to get them to opt-in. If you were able to capture the IP address and time, then I would also suggest that you include that information in your list as well. That way in the event you are accused of violating the act, you have proof to show the relationship and how it was established with the receiver.

Your privacy policy should address what information you collect from you visitor, or from people that subscribe to you email list. It should also include any third party vendors you work with on your marketing campaigns should they be given any of the information you collect. These are basics for your privacy policy page and are not all-inclusive. It is a starting point that will allow you to conform to new regulations. You can look around at other sites privacy policy ideas, or check out these resources:

The above section applies to the CANSPAM Act of 2003 where the conditions of affirmative consent apply. Affirmative consent definition copied and pasted directly from the act is as follows:

1. The recipient expressly consented to receive the message, either in response to a clear and conspicuous request for such consent or at the recipient's own initiative;
2. And if the message is from a party other than the party to which the recipient communicated such consent, the recipient was given clear and conspicuous notice at the time the consent was communicated that the recipient's electronic mail address could be transferred to such other party for the purpose of initiating commercial electronic mail messages.

Back to Table of Contents        Classifying Commercial Email  (Article Continues)

About the Author

James R. Sanders is the owner of Sanders Consultation Group Plus. He has been a webmaster and website designer since 1997. He has also been involved in self employment ventures since 1992. He is presently a contributing author of NewbieHangout. His writing is targeted to webmasters, would be webmasters, website designers, would be website designers, self employed, or those researching information looking for solutions to questions associated with design, business operations, and promotion today. His goal is to provide practical information based upon his years of experience to help webmasters, website designers, and self employed people achieve their goals in today's competitive global market. You can subscribe to his free newsletters at SCGP - Newsletter.

Previous Page

Solutions

Web Services

Certified Stats

Copyright © 2001-2004 NewbieHangout.com. All Rights Reserved.    Privacy Policy