CAN-SPAM Act

OVERVIEW: The federal CAN-SPAM Act was signed into law in December 2003. It specifies the proper terms for sending commercial email. Some of the rules include:

• Senders of commercial email (that is, non-personal and/or business-focused) must obtain permission from their recipients first. Senders can do this with a confirmed opt-in or signup form.
• When a sender obtains an opt-in they must make a reasonable effort to verify a user's identity.
• Evidence of subscribers' permission must be available within 72 hours of request.
• Recipients must be informed where a sender obtained their information.
• All unsubscribe requests must be honored within 10 days.
• The domain attached to your email must have its own privacy policy.
• The identity of the sender and the location of the email's origin must be truthfully represented and available to the recipient.

Hot Designs and all of its customers are bound by law to following the tenets of the CAN-SPAM Act. CAN-SPAM is enforced and has sent violators to prison for five years and longer. Even suspected violations face prolonged investigation and can damage reputations both online and in business.

CAN-SPAM is a guideline for emailing best practices. Advertisements must be identified as such, subject lines must accurately portray the email's content and subscribers must be guaranteed a clear opt-out policy.