We all know how irritating Spam can be. You go to check your email and tons of garbage starts coming in, and then you have to weed through all of it and find the one or two you really needed. And, if you're not careful you might actually dump the messages you wanted to see by accident. It's really become a big hassle for us all personally, and it's been wasting tons of money time-wise in the business world.
To combat this, the Federal Government has finally passed the "CAN-SPAM Act". "The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) establishes requirements for those who send commercial email, spells out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law, and gives consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming them." ~ Federal Trade Commission
Here are some of the rules from the Federal Trade Commission:
~ It bans false or misleading header information. Your email's "From," "To," and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email.
~ It prohibits deceptive subject lines.
~ It requires that your email give recipients an opt-out method.
~ It requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender's valid physical postal address.
As you can see, the guidelines are fairly broad based. But, it is the first attempt by the Federal government to combat this increasing problem on the internet. Over time it is expected that the rules will become more and more defined. And, of course, may have to worked out with countries around the globe for it to truly be effective. We hope that this is the first positive step in combating the Spam problem.
If you want to find out more about the rules, go to CANSPAMLibrary.com and/or the Federal Trade Commission. If you feel that you have received an email that violates the rules either forward it to the Commission at UCE@FTC.GOV or click here to fill out their online complaint form.
