The Federal CAM-SPAM Act
The Federal CAM-SPAM Act, a law that outlines the guidelines for emails, stipulates that commercial emails must contain a message intended for business reasons. Additionally, it gives the recipients of the communication the authority to stop someone or something from emailing them and spells out the consequences for breaking the established rules. The act is intended to encompass all commercial messages, which are those electronic messages that have the purpose of promoting and advertising content on commercial websites. The law covers all the emails; therefore, there is no exception for the emails that are business to business. With this in mind, all the emails, even from former customers that are announcing new products, they must comply with the law (Mark W. Brennan, 2016).
The Impact of the Law on Internet Providers
The law requires that the electronic mails that are sent over the internet comply with the requirements of the law. The law has significantly changed the web platform since its implementation. The law has changed the internet environment in that internet providers have been able to file lawsuits under the act of CAN-SPAM, they were America Online, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Earth Link filed lawsuits in the courts with charges of sending millions of bulk emails to consumers of the internet providers (FindLaw, 2017).
Regulating Misleading Information and Opt-Out Features
The law has also changed the internet as it prohibits the transmission of misleading information that is false, and the law requires that commercial emails to contain an opt-out feature that will allow the recipient of the advert from future advertising. The law has also seen the organizations that are involved in advertising look for means of weakening the act in numerous ways since it was executed (Denny, 2005).
The Ethical Reason for the Law
The ethical reason for this law is to prohibit the sending e-mails that are fraudulent and emails that are abusive and the distribution of material that is pornographic. The law is quite broad it's subject to the regulation of all commercial messages. The act also applies to any business organization, in or outside the United States regardless or a private or public organization, or an individual business person or a non-governmental organization. The act targets people that engage in conducts and the people that initiate the commercial transmission of the electronic mails (FindLaw, 2017).
Disclosure Obligations and Address List-Maintenance Regulations
Under the Federal CAM-SPAM Act, business organizations should comply with particular disclosure obligations along with the address list-maintenance regulations. The business organizations must make sure that they have a conspicuous and vivid form of identification that the message is intended to be an advertisement or a kind of solicitation. It should have the standard email address that the receiver of the message can use to request that there will be electronic mails in the future can be sent by the sender. The law also requires that the electronic mail sent to the receiver should have a valid postal address, which is the physical; address of the originator.
The Benefits of the Law
The law sees to it that it creates a formal structure for the commercial emails that are sent to anyone. It also executes the internal controls that make sure the emails keep to the required regulations (Mark W. Brennan, 2016). Therefore I agree with the law since it protects the internet users and consumers from spammers who might be using the internet for illegal purposes. The law has also presented a good structure for all the commercial businesses to follow when drafting a commercial message, enabling the companies to compete fairly in the online marketing environment.
References
Denny, W. (2005, August 01). How The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 Affects Electronic Communication By Lawyers. Retrieved from Potter Anderson Carron: http://www.potteranderson.com/newsroom-publications-100.html
FindLaw. (2017). Effects of the CAN-SPAM Act on E-Mail Marketing. Retrieved from FindLaw: http://corporate.findlaw.com/law-library/effects-of-the-can-spam-act-on-e-mail-marketing.html
Mark W. Brennan, H. L. (2016, August 11). complying with the CAN-SPAM Act. Retrieved from Lexis Nexis: https://www.lexisnexis.com/lexis-practice-advisor/the-journal/b/lpa/archive/2016/11/08/complying-with-the-can-spam-act.aspx#
