Spam Blocker Information

CAN-SPAM Basics


I. BACKGROUND

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.

The law, which became effective January 1, 2004, covers email whose primary purpose is advertising or promoting a commercial product or service, including content on a Web site.

A "transactional or relationship message" - email that facilitates an agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer in an existing business relationship - may not contain false or misleading routing information, but otherwise is exempt from most provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is authorized to enforce the CAN-SPAM Act. CAN-SPAM also gives the U.S. Department of Justice the authority to enforce its criminal sanctions.

Other federal and state agencies can enforce the law against organizations under their jurisdiction, and companies that provide Internet access may sue violators, as well.

II. WHAT THE LAW REQUIRES

A. 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.

B. It prohibits deceptive subject lines. The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.

C. It requires that your email give recipients an opt-out method. You must provide a return email address or another Internet-based response mechanism that allows a recipient to ask you not to send future email messages to that email address, and you must honor the requests. You may create a "menu" of choices to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to end any commercial messages from the sender.

Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your commercial email. When you receive an opt-out request, the law gives you 10 business days to stop sending email to the requestor's email address. You cannot help another entity send email to that address, or have another entity send email on your behalf to that address. Finally, it's illegal for you to sell or transfer the email addresses of people who choose not to receive your email, even in the form of a mailing list, unless you transfer the addresses so another entity can comply with the law.

D. It requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender's valid physical postal address. Your message must contain clear and conspicuous notice that the message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the recipient can opt out of receiving more commercial email from you. It also must include your valid physical postal address.

III. PENALTIES

Each violation of the above provisions is subject to fines of up to $11,000. Deceptive commercial email also is subject to laws banning false or misleading advertising.

Additional fines are provided for commercial emailers who not only violate the rules described above, but that also:

A. "Harvest" email addresses from Web sites or Web services that have published a notice prohibiting the transfer of email addresses for the purpose of sending email generate email addresses using a "dictionary attack" - combining names, letters, or numbers into multiple permutations

B. Use scripts or other automated ways to register for multiple email or user accounts to send commercial email

C. Relay emails through a computer or network without permission - for example, by taking advantage of open relays or open proxies without authorization.

The law allows the U.S. Department of Justice to seek criminal penalties, including imprisonment, for commercial emailers who do - or conspire to:

A. Use another computer without authorization and send commercial email from or through it

B. Use a computer to relay or retransmit multiple commercial email messages to deceive or mislead recipients or an Internet access service about the origin of the message

C. Falsify header information in multiple email messages and initiate the transmission of such messages

D. Register for multiple email accounts or domain names using information that falsifies the identity of the actual registrant

E. Falsely represent themselves as owners of multiple Internet Protocol addresses that are used to send commercial email messages.

Glen Littlejohn, Esq. http://www.mortgagemarketingtsunami.com


MORE RESOURCES:

Help Net Security

WatchGuard unveils network security 'X-factor'
VNUNet.com, UK - Sep 16, 2008
Customers can choose spamBlocker with virus outbreak detection, WebBlocker for URL and content filtering and WatchGuard Gateway Anti-Virus and intrusion ...
WatchGuard Previews New High Performance Network Security ... Earthtimes (press release)
all 12 news articles


Government e-mail system was down
Royal Gazette, Bermuda - Oct 2, 2008
By Robyn Skinner Government e-mail addresses and its website were down on Monday and Tuesday this week because of a spam blocker component. ...


Ashampoo WinOptimizer 5.09
PC Authority Business Centre, Australia - Oct 1, 2008
There's a StartUp Tuner for controlling which programs are launched when Windows boots, an "IP Spam Blocker" and more. You can defragment your hard drive as ...


Bleacher Report

College Football Line Moves for Week 5, 9/27/08
Bleacher Report, CA - Sep 27, 2008
I've emailed out my pick for Georgia-Alabama so if you haven't received it either check your spam blocker or send me an email and I'll resend it. ...


Automattic Acquires Comment Plugin IntenseDebate
ReadWriteWeb, CA - Sep 23, 2008
Automattic promises that IntenseDebate will remain platform agnostic, just like Aksimet, Automattic's comment spam blocker. ...


WatchGuard Previews Threat Management Network Security Appliance
TMCnet - Sep 18, 2008
The WatchGuard XTM 1050 supports optional security service subscriptions, such as WatchGuard spamBlocker with virus outbreak detection, ...


WatchGuard unveils WatchGuard XTM 1050 network security appliance
Trading Markets (press release), CA - Sep 17, 2008
The new product will reportedly offer optional security service subscriptions, including WatchGuard spamBlocker with virus outbreak detection, ...


Protecting your information
UNM Daily Lobo (subscription), NM - Sep 16, 2008
"We have a really good spam blocker here at UNM, and it does block thousands of spam e-mails per day," Baca said. "But once in a while, some does get ...


WatchGuard verrouille les réseaux d'entreprises
ITchannel.info (Abonnement), France - Oct 3, 2008
D'autres services peuvent compléter l'arsenal sécuritaire de base sous forme d'abonnement, notamment spamBlocker (détection des nouveaux virus), ...


Спам. И как с ним бороться
B2Blogger.com (пресс-релиз), Ukraine - Sep 16, 2008
Spam Blocker - максимально эффективно защитит Ваш почтовый ящик от потоков «спама», а Ваши деньги и время от траты на просмотр ненужных сообщений и на ...

Spam-Blocker - Google News

home | site map
© 2006