SmallBizResource Blog -- Government

Are You In Compliance With CAN-SPAM? Find Out For Free

Posted by Janet Attard Friday, Jun 20, 2008, 01:21 PM ET

You’ve no doubt heard about CAN-SPAM, the government's antispam legislation. But did you know the law was updated this year with significant implications for some e-mailers -- particularly those mailing affiliate offers?

In fact, the four new regulations, which go into effect this month, are even causing those who had previously been CAN-SPAM-compliant some consternation.

"The new rules are an effort to tighten up CAN-SPAM -- both to clarify for legitimate e-mail senders certain aspects of the law, and to tighten the law to make the gray areas clearer," said attorney Anne P. Mitchell, CEO of the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy (ISIPP), an Internet public policy institute that also offers the popular SuretyMail e-mail senders accreditation program.

Unfortunately, she added, the rules seemingly do the opposite. "In particular, the new rules regarding opt-outs and the designated sender, all of which apply to everybody, are causing a lot of headaches," Mitchell said. "People just don't understand these critical new laws governing the sending of their e-mail."

Of the new rules, No. 4 is the most confusing. It says that for any e-mail "that contains the advertisements of someone other than the sender, the entity that the e-mail is 'From' must also have its own advertisement in the e-mail." Otherwise, every entity advertised in the e-mail becomes responsible for processing opt-out requests.

To help e-mail senders understand what they need to do (and do quickly, as the new rules go into effect this month), the ISIPP is offering any business on the Internet a free CAN-SPAM compliance review.

"We know that CAN-SPAM is confusing, and we see it as our job to demystify the rules and to help senders to do the right thing," Mitchell said.

Government