An article in Internet Retailer yesterday pointed out that 81% of email marketers are unaware of the CAN-SPAM Act ("CAN" stands for "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing).  Yikes!  81%?  What if 81% of your neighbors were "unaware of that little law that prohibits them from burglary?" 

Apparently, a firm named WebSurveyor conducted the study of 1,082 organizations.  "81% said they were unaware of CAN-SPAM," 84% said they have had no training on the doctrine, and "only 19% could correctly identify the act as the legislation governing the broadcast of commercial email."  Now, here's the clincher..."nearly 75% responding to the survey said they boradcast emails to customers at least once a month." 

If you're in the 81%, I have some light reading for you:

1)  Start with this, an article about the $900,000 fine that Jumpstart Technologies will be paying for their breach of the CAN-SPAM Act.

2)  This one might be interesting.  Peter Moshou, the "Timeshare Spammer," will be hanging out in prison for a year (after paying a $120,000 fine) as a part of his CAN-SPAM learning-curve.

3)  Here is a link to the actual Act on the Federal Trade Commission Web site.  It's simple stuff that your ESP should be helping you with: 

• Your header info ("from" address, "to" address, routing info, etc) needs to be correct.  Well, there's no reason to fake your header info; unless, of course, you're a spammer.
• Your subject lines can't be deceptive.  If you're interested in loyalty, you won't want to be remembered by your subscribers as "those tricky marketers" anyway.
• You must provide a reasonably simple opt-out method (a campaign-specific and a sender-specific opt-out link or email address or other Internet-based mechansim) that actually works.  It must be operable for at least 30 days after you sent the message (for all of your "high-value" subscribers who check their email once a month!) and you must process these requests within 10 days.  Again, simple stuff...  Not nearly as difficult as the South African mobile-spamming opt-out process.
• You can't sell, barter or otherwise transfer the contact information of the people on your opt-out list.  If that even crossed your mind, I'd like to make a citizens' arrest right now.
• Commercial messages must be identified as such and you must include your valid physical postal address in the message.  This helps determined individuals know where they need to travel if your unsubscribe link doesn't work  ; ) 

So, for those of you in the 19% (I know all of our customers are), great job.  If you were in the 81%, fear not.  If you have a physical address, a valid email address, an automated opt-out method and some basic ethics, you won't be paying anybody $900,000 or spending any time in the Dade County prison.