CAN-SPAM, the US anti-spam law, was one of the first laws of its type when it hit the scene in 2003. CAN-SPAM regulates email communication and it\u2019s enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and it\u2019s been pretty darned effective since it became law. We\u2019ve seen plenty of good examples<\/a> where the FTC hasn\u2019t been afraid<\/a> to slap companies and individuals with fines and lawsuits, and that\u2019s refreshing considering other countries have been dragging their feet (Canada)<\/a> and setting unrealistic expectations. But, as the adage goes, laws were made to be broken, and recent reports suggest that some big brands are ignoring CAN-SPAM, and if it\u2019s true, perhaps the FTC needs to morph into something even meaner.<\/p>\n

According to The Register<\/a>, \u201cOne in 10 of the world\u2019s largest online retailers are sill violating the CAN-SPAM Act, a full 10 years after the US anti-spam legislation went into effect.\u201d And while that doesn\u2019t seem like a significant number, we are talking about large companies, which should be leading in efforts to reduce the amount of spam that invades our inboxes. The finding, according to El Reg, comes from an audit conducted by the Online Trust Alliace (OTA). OTA\u2019s a not-for-profit organization and they\u2019re on a mission to build online trust.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, OTA isn\u2019t fessing up on who the bad little children are. \u201cThe organisation is not naming and shaming the prominent e-merchants that are flagrantly spraying prospects with junk mail in contravention of the US CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and Canada\u2019s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).\u201d And that\u2019s a shame, because we need to know who to boycott. According to El Reg, the OTA \u201cis not naming any of the retailers who failed CAN-SPAM, “because the organization aims to recognize industry leaders, as opposed to publicly shaming companies,” according to a spokesman.\u201d The study does list all the companies included in the study, but that\u2019s all we know. Consider dropping a line to OTA and ask them to change their policy, because as long as we\u2019re in the dark, we cannot enact change.<\/p>\n

OTA\u2019s best practices can be found at this link<\/a>. The companies which violated the CAN-SPAM law did it either by failing to honor unsubscribe requests within ten business days or by failing to have a working unsubscribe link in their email messages. \u201cThe best practices that OTA scored retailers on included: using a clear and conspicuous opt-out link; having unsubscribe text that is easy to read and visible; immediately removing consumers from a subscription list once they opt out; and providing users the option to unsubscribe, opt-down or make other changes to marketing email preferences.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not all bad news. OTA \u201calso found that 70 per cent of 200 online retailers surveyed are making it easy for consumers to unsubscribe from marketing emails.\u201d The organizations Coach, Staples, and LivingSocial were found to be the most honorable of organizations by achieving a perfect score for their unsubscribe practices. The complete list of firms highlighted as top performers follows:<\/p>\n

\u2022 AirCompressorsDirect.com
\n\u2022 AmericanGirl.com
\n\u2022 AnnTaylor.com
\n\u2022 BassPro.com
\n\u2022 Belk.com
\n\u2022 BlueNile.com
\n\u2022 BordenUSA.com
\n\u2022 BonTon.com
\n\u2022 Carters.com
\n\u2022 CDW.com
\n\u2022 Coach.com
\n\u2022 CrateandBarrel.com
\n\u2022 LivingSocial.com
\n\u2022 NastyGal.com
\n\u2022 NineWest.com
\n\u2022 Northern Tool.com
\n\u2022 SierraTradingPost.com
\n\u2022 Staples.com
\n\u2022 Sweetwater.com
\n\u2022 TheBay.com<\/p>\n

According to cso.com.au<\/a>, \u201cThe OTA audited a sample<\/a> of the top 200 North American online and e-commerce brands in July, assessing them against ten measurements it believes to be industry best practice for complying with CAN-SPAM<\/a> and Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). These included the ability to opt out of all email, the embedding of unsubscribe notices, and offering a user preferences web page. Overall, compliance was extremely high, with 10 percent of firms achieving a perfect score against the criteria, and 68 percent passing on eight out of ten counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe point about studies such as this,\u201d reports CSO, \u201cis to push for change by embarrassing firms into changing their behaviour but naming them might have risked a lawyer’s letter. However much consumers have moved on from the problems that CAN-SPAM sought to address, these firms are still apparently breaking the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s an important point. They are breaking the law, and what\u2019s worse, they\u2019re irritating us. Spam is bad enough when it comes in the form of malicious links and heartfelt pleas from dying widows, but we are living in a time when companies have few rules to govern their own behavior. That\u2019s why we rely on laws like CAN-SPAM and CASL, but if they\u2019re not doing their jobs, then what are we left with?<\/p>\n

Spam. More spam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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