The CAN SPAM Act by Jaime Christine Perez April 11, 2011 Internet Laws and Legal Issues Full Sail University

1. The CAN SPAM Act
by Jaime Christine Perez
April 11, 2011
Internet Law and Legal Issues
Presented to Dr. Robert Parrillo

2. 2011 Email Marketing

3. The Can Spam Act
The Can Spam Act stands for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act.
http://zapp5.staticworld.net/news/graphics/162587-spam_law_350.jpg

4. What is Spam?
Spam -- unwanted e-mail in the
inbox -- is the curse of e-mail
marketing.
There are two definitions:
1. "Unsolicited commercial e-mail" is
perhaps the official definition that
prompted anti-spam legislation in
the US and other countries.
2. "E-mail I don't want," however, is
the way spam is functionally defined
by average users. Whether or not
they subscribed to something
initially isn't the point. If they start
getting "too much" e-mail, don't
http://www.mosaictechnology.com/Portals/84434/images/spam-email.jpg

5. The acronym CAN-SPAM derives from the bill's full name:
Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003.
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. 7701, et
seq. , Public Law No. 108-187, was S.877 of the
108th United States Congress), signed into law by
President George W. Bush on December 16, 2003,
establishes the United States' first national
standards for the sending of commercial e-mail
and requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
to enforce its provisions.
Penalty
Jail Time and
Fine Up to $16,000
http://www.ofbyandfor.org/wp-content/uploads/cache/19_BnMainFea.jpg

6. PRECEDENT CASE
ASIS Internet Services v. Optin Global, Inc.
On May 19, 2010,
the United States District Court for the
Northern District of California
entered an $806,978.84 judgment ("the judgment")
against ASIS Internet Services ("ASIS")
to compensate plaintiff AzoogleAds.com, Inc.
for ASIS's vexatious litigation practices.
http://www.ded.uscourts.gov/SLR/Opinions/Mar2011/10-156.pdf

7. Who Does CAN SPAM Act Apply To?
The CAN-SPAM Act applies to essentially all businesses in the US
that use e-mail. It defines a "commercial electronic mail message"
-- which is regulated by this law -- as any e-mail message "the
primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or
promotion of a commercial product or service (including content on
an Internet website operated for a commercial purpose)" (Sec. 3(2)).
Nearly any business e-mail would be covered -- e-mail newsletters as
well as standalone promotional e-mails. That doesn't mean that all
your e-mails are spam, only that the Act governs them.
Personal e-mails (and perhaps non-profit organizations) don't seem to
The Act's definition of commercial e-mail
be covered.
explicitly excludes "a transactional or relationship
message" (Sec. 3(2)(B)), covering e-mails
contacting customers about their accounts,
product upgrades, ongoing services, etc.

8. Spam Is Not Illegal
There are many misconceptions about the
Can Spam Act for example many think it
makes Spam illegal, some think that it
requires marketers to have permission of the
recipient; none of that is true. The act does
not make spam illegal, as a matter of fact
many anti spam advocates felt the law
actually did the opposite and made spam
legal and in a sense I suppose it did, but like
everything it’s not quite that simple. The Act
states that you can send an unsolicited
commercial email to someone but that you
have to adhere to the following rules as
stated on the Federal Trade Commission
Website (FTC- Can Spam Act).
http://joemelle.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/ftc11.jpg?w=400&h=371

9. FTC- Can Spam Act
1. Don’t use false or misleading header information. Your “From,” “To,” “Reply-To,” and routing information – including the
originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the
message.
2. Don’t use deceptive subject lines. The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.
3. Identify the message as an ad. The law gives you a lot of leeway in how to do this, but you must disclose clearly and
conspicuously that your message is an advertisement.
4. Tell recipients where you’re located. Your message must include your valid physical postal address. This can be your
current street address, a post office box you’ve registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you’ve
registered with a commercial mail receiving agency established under Postal Service regulations.
5. Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you. Your message must include a clear and conspicuous
explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future. Craft the notice in a way that’s easy for
an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand. Creative use of type size, color, and location can improve clarity.
Give a return email address or another easy Internet-based way to allow people to communicate their choice to you. You
may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all
commercial messages from you. Make sure your spam filter doesn’t block these opt-out requests.
6. Honor opt-out requests promptly. Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least
30 days after you send your message. You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days. You can’t
charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address, or make the
recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website as a condition for
honoring an opt-out request. Once people have told you they don’t want to receive more messages from you, you can’t sell
or transfer their email addresses, even in the form of a mailing list. The only exception is that you may transfer the
addresses to a company you’ve hired to help you comply with the CAN-SPAM Act.
7. Monitor what others are doing on your behalf. The law makes clear that even if you hire another company to handle your
email marketing, you can’t contract away your legal responsibility to comply with the law. Both the company whose product
is promoted in the message and the company that actually sends the message may be held legally responsible.
http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business

10. How T Manage Spam
o
http://images.pcworld.com/reviews/graphics/111112-2108p123-3b.gif

11. Is Spam
Protected by
Our First
Amendment?
The Freedom of Speech
The Amendment states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of
the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances.
The First Amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791.
http://www.auburn.edu/~murrag1/Constitutionx_files/consti.jpg

12. Email Best Practices
1. Your company name in the From field. Recipients should recognize who
the email is from instantly. It can’t be deceptive in any way (duh). If a
recipient has to strain his brain to remember who you are, he’ll click “This
is spam” instead of opening.
2. A relevant subject line (don’t be spammy), with your company or newsletter
name in it. So they instantly know who the email is from, and what
it’s about (hence, subject line).
3. The To field of your email should be personalized to the recipient’s
name, not their email address.
4. A one-click opt-out link that removes people from your list immediately.
Consider placing it at the top of your email as well as in the footer, so that
people who want off your list can easily find it (instead of clicking their
“Junk” button). If you use MailChimp’s Managed List functionality, you
would use our *|UNSUB|* tag to generate your unsubscribe link (it’s required
in every email you send from our system). Any recipient who clicks
it will be instantly removed from your list. If you use our built-in HTML
email templates, we insert that link into the footer for you.
5. In addition to your opt-out link, you might also include a link in your
header for recipients to “View this email in your browser.” Point it to an
archived version of your email on your server. This helps if the email was
forwarded to friends, and got mangled along the way. MailChimp automatically
keeps an archived version of all your campaigns on our server. You
can just use our *|ARCHIVE|* tag in your emails to link to yours. If you use
our built-in HTML email templates, we automatically place this link at the
top of all your emails.
6. Your valid, physical mailing address (P.O. boxes aren’t good enough),
and as much contact information as possible. The more contact information
you provide, the more reputable your email will look.
7. Bonus: It’s a really good idea to also include some kind of reminder
text, like “You are receiving this email because you signed up at our
website.” People forget opting-in to lists, and they get a little trigger-happy
with the “This is spam” button. That can get you reported to the major
ISPs, so you want to prevent it. Also, in the rare case that a recipient
reports you to an anti- spam organization, having this reminder text can
make the difference between a server admin blacklisting you forever, or
contacting you for further explanation. If you use our built-in email templates,

13. Email Campaign Cost
infoUSA.com
114,209 Emails
Opt-in Generated Email Leads
One Time Blast
Total $6,000

14. ROI Calculator
Return on List Quantity
114,209
Investment Cost for List
$6,000
Revenue per Sale
ROI Revenue $50.00
$108,000 Response Rate
2%
Total Cost
ROI Percentage $6,000
Total Revenue
1,500.00 % $114,000
http://www.infousa.com/Roi/Roi

15. MailChimp
Can be used to
send emails to
Newsletter
Subscribers, once
I Buy Gold has it’s
own email list.
http://blog.mailchimp.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/first-email-project_thm.jpg

16. References:
InfoUSA.com. (n.d.) Email Consumers. Retrieved April 10, 2011. found at http://leads.infousa.com/Email/Consumer/USConsumers.aspx?
bas_session=S54557138107529&bas_vendor=190000
Mail Chimp. (n.d.) Retrieved April 10, 2011. Email Marketing Field Guide. found at http://www.mailchimp.com/guides/
guide_EmailMarketingFieldGuide.pdf
Marketing Sherpa. (2011) Retrieved April 10, 2011. Email MarketingBenchmark Report. found at http://www.scribd.com/doc/
47092440/2011-Email-Marketing-Benchmark-Report-Excerpt
Spam.Org. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2011. Best practices and guidelines for bulk email senders. found at http://www.spam.org/
info/Spam_Best_Practices.htm
Stewart, M. (2006, August). The Can-spam act of 2003 comes to life. found at http://www.buchananingersoll.com/news.php?
NewsID=1369
The SpamHaus Project. (2010). Retrieved Retrieved April 10, 2011. SpamHaus. from http://www.spamhaus.org/index.lasso
US Congress. (1791).Retrieved Retrieved April 10, 2011. Bill of Rights. from http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/
bill_of_rights_transcript.html
[Untitled Photo of Law Book] Retrieved April 10, 2011 from http://www.ofbyandfor.org/wp-content/uploads/cache/19_BnMainFea.jpg
[Untitled Photo of U.S. Law] Retrieved April 10, 2011 from http://www.homeschoolingbooks.com/images/US-Law.jpg
Wilson, R. (2010, April 20). Web Marketing Today. found at http://www.wilsonweb.com/email/wilson-double-optin.htm