Ads in the Gmail Tabbed Inbox

One of the features of the new Gmail tabbed inbox is email-like ads placed by Gmail.

Screenshot of the new Gmail ads.
Screenshot of the new Gmail ads.
When you click on an ad, it opens up into a new window, behaving very similarly to an email. People can even forward the email to another person.
What the user sees when the click on an ad
What the user sees when the click on an ad
This new ad type and the placement in the promotions tab has generated a lot of discussion on a number of different things related to email, abuse and spam.

  1. Is this an email? 
  2. Is this covered under CAN SPAM?
  3. If it is covered under CAN SPAM, is Google violating the law by not providing an opt out?
  4. Is Gmail acting abusive?
  5. Should anti-abuse groups take a stand against Google doing this?
  6. Should marketing groups take a stand against Google for doing this?

I’ll talk a little more about these questions in upcoming blog posts. But before I do, I’d love to hear from folks here what you think about these questions. And what do you think of the new tabbed inboxes?

Related Posts

CAN SPAM ruling against whois privacy protection

A number of bloggers (Venkat B., John L. and Rebecca T.) have mentioned ZooBuh, Inc. v. Better Broadcasting, LLC (No.: 2:11cv00516-DN (D. Utah May 31, 2013)) recently.
In summary of the case is that ZooBuh is an ISP that has sued Better Broadcasting for spamming in violation of CAN SPAM. Their case hinged on the receipt of more than 12,000 emails from Better Broadcasting, LLC. ZooBuh said these emails caused the following harm

Read More

Logging in to unsubscribe

I have been talking with a company about their unsubscribe process and their placement of all email preferences behind an account login. In the process, I found a number of extremely useful links about the requirements.
The short version is: under the 2008 FTC rulemaking senders cannot require any information other than an email address and an email preference to opt-out of mail. That means senders can’t charge a fee, they can’t ask for personal information and they can’t require a password or a login to unsubscribe.
I’ve talked about requiring a login to unsubscribe in the past here on the Word to the Wise blog.
Let them go
Questions about CAN SPAM
One click, two click, red click, blue click
How not to handle unsubscribes
I’m not the only person, though, that’s written about this.
The FTC has written about it in the FTC CAN SPAM Compliance Guide for business

Read More

Boston police using email to warn residents

Jaclyn Reiss tweets:
Town of Watertown email blast sent just now says stay in home, follow police instructions, local businesses should NOT open
Email is not dead, not even close.
Stay safe, Boston.

Read More