Anti Spam Policy

The CAN-Spam Act was introduced in the year 2003, and effective from January 1, 2004.

The Act is intended to stem the tide of spam, formally known as unsolicited commercial email, which currently floods personal and business email inboxes. Unfortunately the Act takes the opt-out approach, allowing transmission of unsolicited mail until the recipient asks for the mailings to cease. This may actually cause an increase in unsolicited mailing, as stricter State laws that prohibit opt-out email marketing, such as California’s recently passed law, will be preempted by the new national law. Nevertheless, the CAN-Spam Act contains requirements that must be met by all mailers regardless of existence of a prior business relationship with the recipient.

All companies that send commercial email must:

Not use subject headings intended to mislead the recipient into opening the message
Use a reply address that will be active for at least thirty days following the transmission of an email message
Include a physical postal address in the body of each message.
Include a clear notice that the message being sent is an advertisement or solicitation.
Include clear instructions in the body of the message detailing how to opt-out of subsequent mailings
Honor all opt-out requests within ten days and not transfer, sell, lease, or exchange the email address of any recipient that has made an opt-out request.

All of the above apply to both solicited and unsolicited commercial mailings with one exception. Emails sent to recipients with their consent (through opt-in newsletters, alerts, etc…) do not need to contain a disclaimer, labeling the message as an advertisement or solicitation.

Damages under this Act can be reduced if policies and procedures designed to prevent such violations have been established and implemented.

Most legitimate email marketers honor removal requests and do not send mailings by hijacking open relay servers. They also refrain from writing misleading subject lines. However, the two high priority issues that must be addressed without room for ambiguity is whether the inclusion of a physical postal address in the message and a disclaimer identifying the message as a solicitation or advertisement, are mandatory or either one would suffice.