CAN-SPAM
Use Private Domain Registration and Go to Jail?
Image via Wikipedia As reported on Spamsuite, the 9th Circuit opinion in USA v. Kilbride, (9th Cir., 2009) has been released. This is primarily an obscenity case against the defendants for sending pornographic spam email. But, it also includes a challenge to 18 U.S.C. § 1037 on vagueness grounds. 18 U.S.C. § 1037 is the [...]
A CAN-SPAM Checklist
Today we’re going to create a checklist of things required for CAN-SPAM compliance. So, you want to make sure that you actually comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and not just say that you do. This post isn’t for you. You might learn something here and if you do, that’s great. But, instead, this [...]
Elsevier shows how not to do it
In October of 2004, I registered with the Lancet in order to gain access to an article. Since that point, Elsevier Ltd., has been sending me email. After their mailing on July 11 of this year, I finally got tired of it, went to their website, and cleared all of the checkboxes. That is to [...]
Bad Advice
The hallmark of bad advice is the “there are very clear guideline” statement which appears without an actual reference to the “very clear guideline”. A great example of this is an Email Insider article entitled: “Transactional Email.” CAN-SPAM. There are very clear guidelines on how much marketing content is acceptable in a transactional email (no [...]
Sending email to wireless domains?
One question that I get asked a lot has to do with sending email to wireless domains. So, I’ll lay out the answer here for all the world to see: No unsolicited messages may be sent to a recipient on a mobile domain for any reason, period. Here’s the general rule from the FCC’s Order [...]
CAN-SPAM doesn’t change our contract
Remember CAN-SPAM is opt-out, not opt-in law :: BtoB Magazine In the article “Give your e-mail marketing new life,” (July 14, page 20), a senior director of ReturnPath is reported to have said that with e-mail databases being populated from multiple sources, “there’s more of a chance that your list contains e-mail addresses of people [...]
ESPC: Simplicity is so complicated
Ken Magill has a new article with quotes from the ESPC’s Trevor Hughes including this gem: The FTC’s opt out clarification “complicates things in that it demands simplicity when simplicity may not be the status quo,” said Hughes. The FTC is demanding simplicity? Well, DUH! CAN-SPAM is a law that is supposed to protect consumers [...]
I had a CAN-SPAM compliant dinner last night
If you’re working in the email space, everything is “CAN-SPAM complaint”. But does it make any sense to say that “I had a CAN-SPAM compliant dinner last night”? No? I didn’t think so either. But, what makes an email database “CAN-SPAM complaint”? You see, I came across a press release wherein the company purports to [...]
When Privacy and Law Collide
On a mailing list I’m on there is currently a long, drawn out discussion regarding suppression lists. One of the interesting points that has come up has come from a privacy angle. What if someone wants you to completely remove their data from your possession? By that, I mean that they request that you remove [...]
Do you want to fund the lawsuit?
So, you have a cool new idea to get people on your mailing list. Or maybe it’s a cool new idea to keep people on your mailing list. Anyway, it’s cool, right? And it will mean more money, too! How strongly do you feel about it? No, really. How strongly? Are you willing to spend [...]
