spam laws – Word to the Wise

November 3, 2016

October 2016: The Month in Email

2 Min read

03November

We’ve returned from London, where I spoke at the Email Innovations Summit and enjoyed a bit of vacation. My wrap-up post also mentions an article I wrote for the Only Influencers site, which looks at questions I get asked frequently: “Why does spam make it to the inbox and our legitimate marketing email doesn’t? Should we just copy their tactics?” In industry news, Yahoo caught our attention for...

April 28, 2016

Let's talk CAN SPAM

By laura

4 Min read

2 comments

28April

Earlier this week I posted about the increased amount of B2B spam I’m receiving. One message is not a huge deal and I just delete and move on. But many folks are using marketing automation to send a series of emails. These emails often violate CAN SPAM in one way or another. This has been the law for 13 years now, I find it difficult to believe marketers are still unaware of what it says...

January 7, 2014

CASL and existing opt-in addresses

By laura

1 Min read

Add comment

07January

The Canadian Anti-Spam law takes effect this summer. EmailKarma has a guest post by Shaun Brown that talks about how to handle current opt-in subscribers under the law. Express consents, obtained before CASL comes into force, to collect or to use electronic addresses to send commercial electronic messages will be recognized as being compliant with CASL. What does “grandfathering” mean...

October 11, 2012

Canadian anti-spam regulations

By laura

1 Min read

Add comment

11October

Canada passed an anti-spam law in 2010. Implementation of this law (CASL) were initially scheduled to go into effect in 2011. That deadline has passed and it’s not looking good for a 2012 date, either. Canada’s Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is the agency responsible for enforcement and rulemaking. This week they published 2 bulletins to help guide companies on how...

September 14, 2011

Spammer prosecuted in New Zealand

By laura

2 Min read

3 comments

14September

Today (well, actually tomorrow, but only because New Zealand is on the other side of the date line) the NZ Department of Internal Affairs added a 3rd statement of claim against Brendan Battles and IMG Marketing. This third claim brings the total possible fines to $2.1 million. Brendan is a long term spammer, who used to be in the US and moved to New Zealand in 2006. His presence in Auckland was...

December 16, 2010

Canada passes anti-spam bill

By laura

1 Min read

Add comment

16December

Call it C-28, call it FISA, call it COPL, just don’t call it a pipe dream any longer. Today the Canadian anti spam law received royal assent and is now law. ReturnPath is saying it will take effect September 2011, but that’s the only date I’ve seen published. The full text of the bill as passed by the House of Commons can be found at It’s fairly dense and I’m still...

January 25, 2010

Spammers aren't who you think they are

By laura

1 Min read

Add comment

25January

Shady direct marketers exploit CAN SPAM to continue spamming but protect themselves from the law. This is something I’ve been talking about for a while (TWSD), and it’s nice to see the mainstream press noticing the same thing.
HT: Box of Meat

September 3, 2009

Maine backs away from new marketing restrictions

By laura

2 Min read

1 comment

03September

The WSJ reports that politicians in Maine have figured out that the new Maine law prohibiting collecting information from teenagers without parental permission is badly written and has a lot of problems. The Attorney General has decided not to enforce the law as it stands. The law does contain private right of action, so there may be private suits filed against companies. I can’t...

May 12, 2009