The Five Do S and Don Ts

InternetLawCompliance.com

THE FIVE DO’S AND DON’TS OF THE CAN-SPAM ACT OF 2003

FIVE MUST DO’S FOR ALL EMAIL CONTAINING ADVERTISING OR PROMOTION OR SOLICITATION

 Identify the email as commercial or containing advertising or solicitation  Add a business address at the close of the email  Add the website or business name  Make sure your unsubscribe system works  Use real ‘from’ addresses and honest ‘subject’ lines

FIVE DON’TS FOR COMMERCIAL EMAIL

 Don’t even THINK about harvesting email addresses from the Web  Don’t use anonymous remailers or try to disguise the source of the email  Don’t use mis-leading subject lines or ‘from’ names  Don’t send adult material without clearly labeling it in the subject line and without seeing a lawyer  Never send a commercial email without an unsubscribe link

Err on the side of caution:

For instance, if you are sending promotional material to your opt-in list, it may still be a good idea to add the address and commercial email label in case a list member takes exception to the mailing. If you have complied with all the requirements of UNSOLICITED email, you can’t get in trouble for any reason.

Remember, ‘spam’, defined as unsolicited commercial email, is NOT illegal. Not many of us actually make a living sending unsolicited email but the problems may arise from recipients who say the content of your email is not what they were expecting – that they did not opt-in for THIS email. But if you have complied with all the regs for UNSOLICITED email – even to your own list – you can’t be held hostage by complaining list members.

© 2004 IP Management, LLC http://www.internetlawcompliance.com Lastly, remember that if you are the master promoter, you’re responsible for rogue affiliates who violate the CAN-SPAM regs. Your affiliate agreements should clearly state all affiliates must comply with the regs and that their affiliate status will terminate if, in your sole discretion, they violate the regs. If someone downstream of you does not instantly cease illegal conduct, you are required by law to notify the FTC so you can distance yourself from the joint venture partner or affiliate.

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