DMA's Member-Online CAN-SPAM Briefing Available Online; FTC's New Rules Now in Effect

July 8, 2008 — To brief members on what the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) new CAN-SPAM rules mean, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) hosted a conference call on Friday, May 16 in which more than 250 DMA members participated. That briefing is now available to members by clicking here.

The FTC’s four new rule provisions under the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM) took effect on Monday, July 7, 2008.

The new rule provisions address four topics:

· An e-mail recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future e-mail from a sender.

· The definition of “sender” was modified to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single e-mail message is responsible for complying with the Act’s opt-out requirements.

· A “sender” of commercial e-mail can include an accurately-registered post office box or private mailbox established under United States Postal Service regulations to satisfy the Act’s requirement that a commercial e-mail display a “valid physical postal address.”

· A definition of the term “person” was added to clarify that CAN-SPAM’s obligations are not limited to natural persons.

To access the FTC’s new CAN-SPAM rules, click here.

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