CANSPAM Act of 2003 and How it Will
Affect Our Marketing Campaigns
Identifying The Originator of the Email - The CANSPAM Act of 2003's
Guidelines to Determine Who is Responsible for the Email Sent
The act also goes into extensive explanation and identification
of which they consider the initiator of an email message. You might
be surprised to find out that just by paying someone else to send
the email for you, such as paying a third party for sending information
to people on their list on your behalf, will not remove you from
the dangers associated with the act. If you are sending email and
violating the terms of the act, or having someone else send the
email for you, you are still going to face repercussions from the
act. Some terms identified by the act copied and pasted directly
from the act:
- (1) INITIATE.-The term "initiate", when used with respect
to a commercial electronic mail message, means to originate
or transmit such message or to procure the origination or transmission
of such message, but shall not include actions that constitute
routine conveyance of such message. For purposes of this paragraph,
more than one person may be considered to have initiated a message.
- (2) PROCURE.-The term "procure", when used with respect to
the initiation of a commercial electronic mail message, means
intentionally to pay or provide other consideration to, or induce,
another person to initiate such a message on one's behalf.
- (3) RECIPIENT.-The term "recipient", when used with respect
to a commercial electronic mail message, means an authorized
user of the electronic mail address to which the message was
sent or delivered. If a recipient of a commercial electronic
mail message has one or more electronic mail addresses in addition
to the address to which the message was sent or delivered, the
recipient shall be treated as a separate recipient with respect
to each such address. If an electronic mail address is reassigned
to a new user, the new user shall not be treated as a recipient
of any commercial electronic mail message sent or delivered
to that address before it was reassigned.
- (4) ROUTINE CONVEYANCE.-The term "routine conveyance" means
the transmission, routing, relaying, handling, or storing, through
an automatic technical process, of an electronic mail message
for which another person has identified the recipients or provided
the recipient addresses.
- (5) SENDER.-
- (A) IN GENERAL.-Except as provided in subparagraph (B),
the term "sender", when used with respect to a commercial
electronic mail message, means a person who initiates such
a message and whose product, service, or Internet web site
is advertised or promoted by the message.
- (B) SEPARATE LINES OF BUSINESS OR DIVISIONS.-If an entity
operates through separate lines of business or divisions
and holds itself out to the recipient throughout the message
as that particular line of business or division rather than
as the entity of which such line of business or division
is a part, then the line of business or the division shall
be treated as the sender of such message for purposes of
this Act.
I already mentioned the first two bullets in the first paragraph
of this section. So I won't rehash that here. You need to pay special
attention to them though, and be careful whom you use to send out
your email. Some companies offer to send your message to people
on their opt-in lists. If you use a reputable company, there should
be no problems. Just make sure they have adopted practices to comply
with the new legislation.
The recipient with more than one email address is considered to
be a separate recipient for each email address despite the fact
that they are the same person. What this means is that just because
you have one of their email addresses, it does not mean that the
other ones are free game. You could use the one time email to attempt
to gain them on your list, but unless they opt-in, I would not suggest
sending them anymore mail at that particular address. Unless you
sell the names on your list and charge for volume, why would you
want additional email addresses for one person anyways?
Routine conveyance would apply to lists purchased from third party
businesses. It can also apply to partnerships with other companies
where you give them access to your mailing list information. Again,
be careful here. If you are purchasing a list, then make sure they
are "scrubbing" their lists. Scrubbing entails keeping
a list updated by adding or removing email addresses. It especially
applies to the removal of addresses that have opted out. It also
applies to making sure you purchase such lists from companies that
use some kind of opt-in process. A double opt-in process where the
recipient gets an email confirmation they must reply to before they
are added is a better choice. If you provide your list information
to partners, then you should also make sure you are using some kind
of opt-in list, and "scrub" it to keep it updated.
The information above pertaining to sender is forward and I do
not believe any explanation is in order. Just remember that having
others send your message, or sending a company addresses that you
own to market for you can open you up to consequences if you do
not follow the new CANSPAM Act of 2003. Remember that transactional
messages do not apply to these requirements.
Back
to Table of Contents
Predatory
and Abusive Commercial Email (Article Continues)
Canspam Compliance Company Interviews
Other Legal Articles:
Related E-Book Downloads
By James R. Sanders
January 06, 2003
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