Email ethics and legality

The ethics of email marketing are founded on a simple single understanding. People’s in-boxes are as much part of their private domain as are their bedrooms.

When all need to understand that sending spam to someone’s in-box is akin to barging uninvited into their bedroom.

The Golden Rule of ancient philosophy, quoted here from the works of Pittacus, and understood to be the basis of all human rights, applies to email marketing as well: “Do not to your neighbor what you would take ill from him”.

If you do not enjoy receiving spam why on earth do you think anyone else does?

If you do not enjoy looking at commercial offers that are entirely irrelevant to you why do feel that forcing others to do so is a good idea?

Do you need Fake Vitamins? Phony watches? Dodgy loans? No?

Neither do I…

How much does Spam cost?

In a utopian world the two ideas I mentioned before would be enough to prevent spam from ever becoming a problem. Sadly as the following figures prove, the world is far from being utopian. Spam counts for more than 80% of all the email traffic on the face of the planet. The UN published a recent report stating that spam is responsible for causing a 25 billion $ dent in the global economy every year (no mistake – Spam costs us all 25 billion dollars a year).

Laws come to regulate situations where ethics and personal morals have failed to restrain improper, hurtful or dangerous behaviors. Laws are also often created in situations where technological and scientific advances create new sets of circumstances that require regulation in time frames that do not allow for the natural evolution of new ethics. The Internet, cyberspace and email in particular, fall into both these categories. We have all indeed witnessed extensive unethical and illegal use of every new field presented to us by the IT sector. It therefore should come as no surprise that most governments in the cyber-savvy regions of the globe have indeed created rules and laws to regulate the usage of the new medium, in general, and also specifically to regulate how the medium may be used for advertising.

The American Anti-Spam law

The United States government published the CAN SPAM act (Controlling the assault of non-solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) in January of 2004. Although it has often been maligned and criticized a basic understanding of the principles of the American law remains a good starting point for anyone who wishes to engage in email marketing the legal way.

So what does the CAN SPAM act actually say? Here's a basic list of the laws main provisions:

CAN SPAM forbids false and/or misleading header information The "From," "To," and routing information in your emails, including the originating domain name and email address, must be accurate and identify you correctly.

CAN SPAM forbids the use of deceptive subject lines The subject line of your email mustn’t be misleading regarding the contents of your message.

CAN SPAM demands that your email give recipients a method to opt-out You must provide an email address, or other Internet-based point of contact, that allows recipients to elect to no longer get email messages from you. You are required by law to honor all such requests.

CAN SPAM states that it is illegal to sell email addresses Its illegal for you to sell or give away the email addresses of the people who chose to no longer get your email unless you transfer the addresses so another entity can comply with the law.

CAN SPAM requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender's postal address Your email must contain a clear notice informing the recipient that your message is an advertisement and that the he or she can choose to no longer receive commercial emails from you. Your message must also include a valid physical postal address for you and/or your business.

Remember the golden rule…

The American CAN SPAM act and similar laws in other countries came into being because we all neglected to obey the golden rule: “Spam not thy neighbor as thou wouldst not have him spam thyself”. It is a good idea to test all your email marketing, and indeed all your marketing efforts according to this simple maxim. When your marketing efforts meet the simple requirement made by this maxim you will find that not only they are they far more effective but also that you and your business are perceived as ethical, honest and pleasant to deal with.

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