Email Marketing & Abuse

FTC Issues Updated CAN-SPAM Rules

May 28th 2008

The Federal Trade Commission has issued new provisions under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. These are additional definitions and adjustments to rules, and do not significantly extend these anti-spam regulations for most marketers. The new provisions address the following main themes:

Largest Ever SPAM Damages Assigned in MySpace Case

May 22nd 2008

A U.S. District Judge in Los Angeles has ruled that “spam king” Sanford Wallace and his accomplice Walter Rines are liable to pay MySpace $230 million in damages. This is significant both for the verdict’s size, and because the spam happened entirely within MySpace rather than through traditional ISP based email.

Dave Wieneke Speaking at ExactTarget Email Marketing Conference Today

May 20th 2008

Hello from Toronto, where its light until almost 10pm. The good people at ExactTarget invited me to join their 1:1 marketing conference as a speaker on email marketing best practices. I’ll be singing the praises of email newsletters as a means to personally address customers while generating and nurturing leads.

New Colorado SPAM Law Extends Federal Law with Care

May 6th 2008

Colorado has passed new anti-spam legislation, which establishes violations of federal CAN-SPAM law as also being fraud under state law. It then extends the law to those who knowingly falsify routing of point-of-origin information, while establishing protections for plaintiffs, and a statutory penalty of $1,000 per email with a ceiling of $10 million. You can find […]

NY Court Holds Signed Emails Can Modify Contracts

May 2nd 2008

The New York Court of Appeals 1st Division recently upheld a lower court ruling that emails with signature lines “constitute ‘signed writings’ within the meaning of the statute of frauds, since plaintiff’s name at the end of his e-mail signified his intent to authenticate the contents.” At issue was the modification of an employment contract […]

“Spam King” Pleads Guilty in Federal Court

March 16th 2008

Large scale spammer Robert Soloway, age 28, whose criminal trial was scheduled to start in a week, is facing a possible 26-year jail sentence after pleading guilty in Seattle on Friday to charges of fraud and tax evasion. Soloway is set to be sentenced on June 20, 2008. The indictment included an array of charges:

CAN-SPAM’s Side Orders – State Online Marketing Laws

March 5th 2008

Updated: May 4, 2008 While Federal CAN-SPAM is perhaps the most well-known online marketing law, individual states also regulate online business practices. The Federal law is written with provisions which preempt state action, so the federal act is the main law, while states extend its reach, or add to it provisions as side orders extend an […]

Email Law: New CAN-SPAM FAQ for Internet Marketers

March 3rd 2008

What is CAN-SPAM? The name CAN-SPAM is an acronym from the original bill’s full name: Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003. Its purpose was to set the first national standards for sending commercial e-mail, and to limit the bulk sending of unsolicited email. The law requires the Federal Trade Commission […]

Marketing Sherpa on “Superb Email Personalization”

March 1st 2008

It was fantastic being with over 800 email marketers in Miami last week. They’ve posted some kind words on my talk about B2B email (see point #9 of their event wrap-up).  We endured several hours of Florida’s massive power blackout, which resulted in intimate presentations in dim rooms, and the occasional impulse to gather around battery […]

Live from Sherpa’s Email Marketing Summit

January 14th 2008

I’m excited to be speaking at Marketing Sherpa’s Email Summit, where I’ll discuss the benefits of personalizing B2B email marketing with photos. Do photos change behavior?  I have results that suggest they do, sometimes dramatically.  In fact, the difference between “with photo” and “without photo” versions persists, even as other improvements are made to campaigns.  […]