The CAN-SPAM Act in the US was created over eight years ago
in response to the increasing amount of email spam that people were receiving
in their inboxes. However, in spite of the efforts of the government and
lawmakers to make it easily understood for everyone, there still is confusion
over what exactly does the CAN-SPAM Act does or doesn’t do.
The US CAN-SPAM Act was created to stem the flow of unsolicited bulk email or spam as a form
of commercial advertising, thereby trying to prevent the abuse of email
addresses by shady online marketers. Congress
passed the law in 2003 after much debate, becoming effective on January 1,
2004.
In creating the law, Congress has set out basic guidelines
for email marketers to follow:
1.
Email marketers should not mislead recipients as
to the source or content an email
2.
People should be allowed to decline or
unsubscribe from any email message from any source.
However, the CAN-SPAM Act does not restrict any business
from sending an unsolicited email to another company for business purposes. However,
it does mention that if a person wants to opt-out of receiving emails from a
particular company, the business must comply.
Other guidelines are:
·
Any unsolicited messages must not have
misleading subject headings.
·
All emails must have an unsubscribe or opt-out link
that is valid for 30 days after the email is sent. If the receiver wants to
opt-out, you have 10 days to comply with that demand.
·
All ads must be identified as commercial
advertisements in the email.
·
Every advertising email that you send out, must
have a physical mailing address clearly marked in the email.
·
You cannot sell or share email addresses of
people who have unsubscribed from your list.
In Canada, the Personal
Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) governs email
marketing practices in the country. Enacted
in 2004, the PIPEDA is different from the CAN-SPAM act in that it governs how personal
information is distributed and managed online.
In brief, it states that:
·
Emails marketers must obtain permission from the
recipient when collecting their personal information and must be kept secure
once collected.
·
Any data collected cannot be shared or sold to
another party without express permission of the recipient.
·
A double-opt in signup method is required for
Canadian residents.
·
You are liable for any data collected and
stored. If there is a data breach, you will be at risk for any damages
occurred.
·
Like the CAN-SPAM act, you must have an
unsubscribe link in your email clearly indicated.
For the typical B2B marketer, these regulations were not
meant to be present a challenge. The purpose of both the CAN-SPAM and PIPEDA
was to protect the consumer from any scams or phishing attacks that are commonly
found in B2C campaigns. As long as
marketers observe the regulations set out by both countries, there should be no
problem in sending out emails.
