In the early 2000s, governments in the U.S. and around the world began to realize the problem that unsolicited commercial email - what we often call “spam” - had become. As a result, lawmakers proposed, debated, and ratified a number of laws that would serve to protect email recipients from receiving unsolicited email.
Well, sort of.
While the purpose of these laws is to curb the sending of spam, many of the actual provisions are aimed more at information privacy as well as helping recipients easily identify and/or unsubscribe from commercial mailings. In this series of articles, we’ll take a look at some of those laws and what they mean for you as an email marketer. In the first installment, we’ll focus on North America.
United States: CAN-SPAM Act (2003)
Ever fond of catchy acronyms, the U.S. Congress passed the “Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing” Act, which was shortened to the now-ubiquitous “CAN-SPAM.” The provisions were directed at emails intended to advertise a commercial product or service and outline requirements for senders, penalties for spammers, and guidelines by which recipients can stop receiving these emails.
Here are the key points of the Act:
- False or misleading header information is prohibited. This means that the “From,” “To,” and routing information must accurately identify the person sending the mailing. If you’re using Bronto, you’re already compliant with this requirement.
- Deceptive subject lines are not allowed. The subject line of an email is not allowed to mislead the recipient as to the content or topic of the email.
- An opt-out method must be provided. This is where the Act lays out some very specific requirements. You must provide a valid electronic method for a contact to request to stop receiving your emails, and that method must work for at least 30 days after the date of your mailing. You can offer options for what type of mailings a contact wants to receive, but you must also provide the ability to request not to receive any commercial email from your organization. Once you’ve received an opt-out request, you must cease sending email to that person within 10 business days, and no further mailings can be sent to that address from your organization or from any other entity on your behalf. Bronto’s automatically added unsubscribe link ensures compliance with this provision of the Act.
- All commercial email must include the sender’s physical address. This means that all mailings must have a valid postal address for the entity sending the email included within the message content. Once again, Bronto helps to keep your mailings CAN-SPAM compliant, automatically adding your physical address to any mailing sent through your account.
In addition to the requirements for commercial mailers, the Act imposes hefty fines for those who violate these provisions.
Canada:
- PIPEDA (2004)
- ECPA (proposed)
As I’m writing this blog post, Canada currently has no actual laws specifically regulating commercial email against spam. The Canadian Parliament is currently debating the Electronic Commerce Privacy Act, which contains provisions similar to U.S. CAN-SPAM.
Canada’s current laws, like those in many countries, focus more on the privacy of electronic information gathering than the actual sending of email. This is outlined primarily in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, or PIPEDA, which took effect January 1, 2004.
A few key points of PIPEDA:
- An organization cannot collect, use, or share someone’s personal information without consent. This provision can be interpreted to require an opt-in when collecting email addresses, although it is not specifically geared toward email communication.
- Organizations must allow individuals to access and correct their information if needed.
- Personal information must be kept safeguarded with security appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the proposed ECPA, and give you an update on its provisions if it passes. As this topic is so vast, this post serves as the first in a series of blog posts on International spam laws. In part 2 of the series, we’ll take a look at Europe’s spam legislation and how mailers are affected. Until then, feel free to comment with any questions or concerns.
Brad Gurley
Support Associate at Bronto
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