Email
Marketing
A look at the latest developments in the CAN-SPAM Act and
what it means for your business
May 17, 2004
By Holly
Berkley
At first glance, it looks like there may actually be an end
to all those Viagra, weight loss and sexual enhancement ads that appear in your
inbox each morning. Just 4 months after the new CAN-SPAM law was enacted, the
first spammers were arrested. The four Michigan men are accused of operating an
Internet scam involving the sale of fraudulent weight-loss products, sexual aids,
and herbal supplements through millions of unsolicited e-mails.
According
to CIO Today, the men are accused of a number of illegal activities, including
spoofing return e-mail addresses by using open proxy servers owned by a variety
of major companies and organizations.
"The violations of the spam law
carry a punishment of up to five years in prison. But the four could also get
20-year sentences for mail fraud based on the sale of bogus products through e-mail",
according to Jason Lopez of NewsFactor Network in his April 29th article for CIO
Today. However,
it is doubtful the men would actually go to prison for the violation of the anti-spam
law. Not because they are innocent, but because there are so many grey areas in
the way the current CAN-SPAM law is written. I'm fairly confident any lawyer could
get them off, by addressing any number of loopholes. CAN-SPAM
Grey Areas & Loopholes Since
the law was enacted, marketers as well as consumers have many questions about
how to comply with the new law. As a result, the FTC says it will spend the next
18 months or so, further defining the law. One of the main issues that has legitimate
online marketers questioning the new law, is the section outlawing all commercial
email, which is then defined as any email sent by a web site with a commercial
purpose. This piece of the law could clearly hurt legitimate B2B online communications.
The following are some other areas of the new law that deserve a closer look: -
1. According to CAN-SPAM, all commercial emails must contain a physical address.
In
theory this sounds great. But how can you verify if the address is actually real?
In addition, many spammers who are trying to appear CAN-SPAM compliant resort
to tricks such as posting their company address and contact information within
a graphic. They can later easily change the address graphic at anytime, by simply
uploading a new graphic to the server. (This also prevents Network Administrators
from filtering specific emails based on contact information)
- 2.
According to CAN-SPAM, all commercial all emails must provide newsworthy content.
Again,
that sounds like a legitimate request at first glance. But as a result, spammers
are literally providing 1 line of "newsworthy" content, followed by
several ads.
What
about the Do Not Email registry?
This would function similar to the
Do Not Call list, where advertisers would be financially penalized for emailing
anyone on the list. Again, another great idea in theory, but upon closer look
there are some significant risks. - 1.
There are many ways spammers could get a hold of an online database of people
who registered with the Do Not Registry list. And once compromised, it is questionable
whether or not the list could ever be re-secured.
- 2.
One of the proposals includes a domain-wide Do Not Email option. This option involves
domain owners submitting their domain name to have all associated emails excluded
from spam. The problem? This option could potentially kill legitimate B2B email
communications, as the current Do Not Email proposal contains no exemptions for
preexisting business relationships.
Even
if CAN-SPAM is better defined, can it even be enforced?
Since the CAN-SPAM
law was enacted, numerous studies have shown no reduction in spam. In fact almost
58% of our inboxes is still spam. California
Attorney General Bill Lockyer was honest about his lack of resources to enforce
the new email law. According to Ben Isaacson's February Clickz.com report on the
Spam & the Law conference, Lockyer stressed the importance of getting the
industry's support to help enforce the law. "He cited an online form that
can be used to report violations… and went so far as to give out his personal
email address to anyone (at the conference) who would provide assistance" Offshore
Spamming
So if we all pitch in, and help identify spammers, does this
mean the end of spam is near? Not likely. Many
spammers are simply moving their operations offshore. Which can be as simple as
setting us a server in countries such as Taiwan, China, India or Russia, making
it almost impossible for US law enforcement to prosecute violators without the
help of officials in that country. Some Experts say the only way to stop anti-spamming
is to begin charging for emails, an issue that is a highly sensitive one to all
internet users, including myself. The
end of spam starts with you
I do have faith that the CAN-SPAM law will
eventually help control spam. I like to see the law enacted in January as a "rough
draft" and open to feedback and ideas from marketers as well as consumers. I
do think that a reduction in spam must start close to home through our own email
marketing practices. I can't stress enough the importance of not buying or renting
email lists. No matter what an email marketing company will tell you, NO ONE opts
in to have their email address sold. Buying or renting an email list is spam,
period. If
you are having trouble growing your current email list try offering a bigger incentive
in your next email newsletter or announcement to spark viral marketing. For example
a 2 for 1 offer, catchy contest or a significant discount will encourage your
existing subscribers to forward your message to co-workers, friends or family,
thereby getting your message out to a larger audience (without spamming) and potentially
increasing your email list (without buying one). We
are a long way from the end of spam. However the CAN-SPAM Act is better than sitting
back and doing nothing, and a positive step in the right direction. Holly
Berkley is the author of "Limited-Budget Online Marketing for Small Business"
and owner of San Diego based Web site design and Marketing Company, Berkley
Web Strategies *Click
here for more Online Marketing articles by Holly Berkley | 
