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By Steve Horton
iProduction

iProduction today announced that the Internet Publishing System™ is fully compliant with the new anti-spam legislation that was signed into law December 16 by President George Bush. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 -- The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act -- applies new sanctions to persons and companies that misuse e-mail.

"iProduction does not allow our systems to be used by spammers. However, this new law should be understood by all publishers who use e-mail to distribute content," said iProduction president Stephen M. Laliberte. "Publishers who use iProduction systems can be confident that their systems fully comply with new laws. More laws are on the way. Part of our job is to track important e-mail bills as they move through congress so we can stay compliant," Laliberte said.

This new legislation was introduced by Senators Conrad R. Burns (R-MT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) in April 2003, with minor changes from the previous year's version, S. 630 (2002). Two other bills (S. 1231 and S. 1293) were subsequently merged into it. The final version was approved by the Senate in November and by the House of Representatives in early December. The new law takes effect January 1, 2004.

Among the new regulations:

• Unsolicited commercial e-mail messages must be labeled and must include opt-out instructions and the sender's physical address.

• The use of deceptive subject lines and false headers in such messages is prohibited.

• Consumers have the right to demand that a “spammer” (i.e., a sender of Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (UCE) cease sending them messages.

• Recipients must be informed that the e-mail is an advertisement

• Senders must include a valid return e-mail address and other header information with the message that accurately identifies the sender and Internet location from which the message has been sent.

• Senders must include in the e-mail message itself a valid physical address of the sender, as well as clear and conspicuous notice that both the message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the recipient may “opt out” of further e-mail from the sender.

The new law also specifies that businesses are in violation if they: 1) know in advance that they are engaged deceptive promotional tactics, 2) are receiving or expect to receive an economic benefit, and 3) are taking no precautions to prevent such promotion or to detect and report it to the FTC.

Click here to download a PDF version of the new law.