7 replies to this topic

[cre8pc]

http://techupdate.zd...2880726,00.html

26 US States have anti-spam laws. This list tells who and what.

Click http://spamlaws.com/eu.html for European Spam laws.

Click http://spamlaws.com/us.html for US Spam laws.

Click http://spamlaws.com/world.html for Other Countries laws.

SPAM Legal site worth bookmarking - http://law.spamcon.org/

Kim

[bragadocchio]

The problem with a lot of those state laws is that there has been very little enforcement of them since they were passed by the different state legislatures.

That's why I posted about the Washington case. I believe that it was the first successful prosecution under Washington's state law. If you haven't looked at the Washington State Supreme Court opinion that I linked to in that post, it's worth a peek. It goes into how the defendant was harvesting emails, and the volume of mail that he was sending out.

Another site that is interesting is The Spamhaus Project which might be useful if you're curious about where the spam that you receive originates from.

[bragadocchio]

There are people attempting to bring cases to court when they've received unsolicited commercial email, but a lot of confusion exists about the laws.

The Washington State legislature is considering passing a bill that would make it clear that their anti-spam laws can apply to emails that originate outside to the State of Washington. See:

Legislation to toughen spam rules coasting through state committees

[JohnG]

Kim,

I have written a fair amount in this area. Guests and members may find the following of value:

the Act

The Federal Regulators Are Coming To Town

The Guys And Gals In Blue Have Arrived

Is The Writing On The Wall For Spam?

(I have been urged by quite a few people to turn this information into an e-book and sell it on the theory people will pay more attention to what you say if people have to pay for the information. The book is in the works, but for now people can access the information directly.)

For European marketers and those who market into Europe:

the UK regulations

The Commissioner's Guidance

Trusting this information is of value.

Kind regards,

John Glube
Toronto, Canada

[Tim]

Just to add to this topic, for those who are in Australia:

Spam is now illegal in Australia. The Spam Act 2003 came into effect on 10 April 2004 and it prohibits 'unsolicited commercial electronic messages'. The Spam Act is enforced by the Australian Communications Authority (ACA).

(from http://www.isoc-au.o...Spam/index.html)

The site above includes a few links to related resources.

- Jeremy Malcolm has also written an article titled Recent Developments in Australian Spam Law.
- The ACA website has information for consumers and businesses, and information about how to report spam. Visit http://www.aca.gov.a...umer_info/spam/.

Of particular interest to Australian businesses is the following. Please note that this is just a partial quote from the ACA website, and should be read in context by visiting the site.

To comply with Australia’s spam laws, any commercial electronic message you send must meet the following conditions
...
- Consent: it must be sent with the recipient’s consent. They may give express consent, or consent may be inferred from their conduct and ‘existing business or other relationships’
- Identity: it must contain accurate information about the person or organisation that authorised the sending of the message
- Unsubscribe: it must contain a functional ‘unsubscribe’ facility to allow the recipient to opt out from receiving messages from that source in the future

A spam message is not necessarily sent out in ‘bulk’ to numerous addresses – under Australian law, a single electronic message can also be considered spam.

It's not just e-mail:

The Spam Act covers electronic messages – emails, mobile phone text messages (SMS), multimedia messaging (MMS) and instant messaging (iM) – of a commercial nature. However, the Act does not cover voice or fax telemarketing.

Every Australian business should ensure they comply, as heavy penalites apply for non compliance:

The legislation sets out penalties of up to $1.1 million a day for repeat corporate offenders.

For more information, see http://www.aca.gov.a...forbusiness.htm

[Joshua Sciarrino]

I didn't even know this was on Cre8.

Kim, the last 4 links (on the top post) are void). The only link that works is:http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2880726,00.html

But I'm sure all of these are out of date.

[cre8pc]

Goes back huh? I thought of pulling it, but what the heck. For a historical record perhaps?

PS - Heaven only knows what gems are buried in the forums :ph34r:

[Joshua Sciarrino]

too true.

One man can be a rich mean of knowledge after reading every page on Cre8.