Spam Laws
We've all seen them. You go to your e-mail inbox and there they are
sales on drugs,
cheap printer ink, offers of pornography, online PC TV, free business cards, you won the Irish Lottery, and many others. What you have is a large helping
of spam.
What is spam? Spam is the sending of unwanted e-mail messages, with the
majority of spam messages coming from businesses, both legal and shady. But, most importantly, spam is illegal.
In 2003, in response to complaints from consumers about receiving spam messages, the U.S. government enacted the
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. The legislation clarified what
e-mail marketers could or could not say in messages. It also placed specific guidelines on who could be sent messages, and how consumers could
opt-out of receiving messages.
In addition to the federal spam laws, individual states have laws governing e-mailing. The confusing fact is that each state has different laws.
The Spam Laws website has a very good listing of the individual states
laws. Despite the fact that each state has different laws concerning spam, the federal CAN-SPAM Act overrules the state laws.
Because of the differences in state laws,
it has created confusion among merchants that conduct business between state lines. Some states have enacted very strong anti-spam laws
and some businesses are concerned that these laws are hampering their opportunities to do business in that state. For example, Utah has
established a child "do not e-mail"
registry which would prohibit minors from receiving e-mails. Legitimate business entities are concerned that this will restrict their
opportunities for business, and have filed lawsuits to have these restrictions lifted. Battles such as this are ongoing in the United
States.
To assist in understanding the state and federal spam laws, here are some good resourceful websites:
- Spam Laws Overview of the federal spam laws from the
Federal Trade Commission.
- CAN-SPAM A summary of the CAN-SPAM Act from the
Federal Communication Commission.
- Opt Out Problems This site deals with
problems that could arise when you choose to opt out from spam.
- Spam Laws< This site questions whether or not anti-spam laws are
constitutional.
- Spam Legal Issues This site looks at legal issues that have occurred
because of the spam laws.
- Spam Laws Forum A discussion site with
questions and answers on spam and spam laws.
- UK Spam Laws An overview
of anti-spam laws in the United Kingdom.
In summary, consumers have protection under state and federal law. The laws conflict in certain areas; however, the enacting of legislation is a step
in the right direction to eliminate unwanted spam.