IT Regulatory Compliance in North America

CHAPTER 10: ANTI-SPAM LEGISLATION

Closely allied to the issues of privacy and data protection is the global challenge of spam. Spam, or unsolicited commercial email, has been the subject of regulatory concern because it upsets so many of its recipients.

CAN-SPAM Act

The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act 2003 – the ‘CAN-SPAM Act’ – set national standards for the sending of commercial bulk and unsolicited email and requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce its provisions. This act permits email marketers to send unsolicited commercial email as long as it contains:

• an opt-out mechanism,

• a functioning return email address,

• a valid subject line indicating that it is an advertisement, and ...