Email Laws That Could Bring You to Jail Even if Youre Not Spamming

First things first, I'm not a legal expert and so this article DOES NOT represent any legal or professional information and nor can I guarantee its accuracy. I only wrote this article to introduce you to these email laws that might affect us, email marketers.

OK, so what're these email laws?

They're the Child Protection Registry laws that have been taken into effect in the State of Michigan and Utah.

These laws established "Do Not Email" registries into which individuals or institutions that primarily serve minors can enter minors' email addresses or any email address to which minors may have access. Institutions or entities that primarily serve minors can also register their entire domain names.

People are prohibited by these laws from sending email to the addresses that have been in the registries for 30 days or more if the email contains material or link to material that is illegal for minors. And it doesn't matter whether the email is solicited or unsolicited, you still can't send such email.

You might think that the materials must be something obvious such as pornography, gambling, alcohol, etc. Yes, but they're only part of the materials.

The other part consists of less obvious stuff, namely stuff that looks fine, but might be illegal for minors because minors are prohibited by law from viewing, receiving, participating, possessing, or purchasing this stuff. This includes automotive sales, etc.

And according to the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy, these laws apply to almost all people in the United States and even those outside the United States who have a physical presence in the United States. (see http://www.isipp.com/child-protection-email-address-registries.php)

So, imagine you have some email addresses in your list that happen to be already in the "do not email" registry for 30 days, but you're not aware of them. And one day, you send an email that contains a link to a webpage that has some Adsense ads that advertise some automotive sales, guess what may happen to you?

Well, your action may be considered as a computer crime and you might face civil suit and fines or/and you might even face criminal suit and penalty.

So far, there are two things that you can do to prevent you from getting trouble with these laws.

First, make sure that you never send email that contains material or link to material which is illegal for minors. This is so obvious, right?

Second, if you think that you can't comply with the first option, then you can purge your list by matching it against the registries in a regular basis. But there are fees for this.

Don't panic about these laws. Instead, find more information about it. You can start learning more about these laws by visiting the references below:

- Michigan Children's Protection Registry site: https://www.protectmichild.com

- Michigan Public Act No. 241: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2003-2004/publicact/htm/2004-PA-0241.htm

- Michigan Public Act No. 242: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2003-2004/publicact/htm/2004-PA-0242.htm

- Utah Code - Child Protection Registry: http://www.le.state.ut.us/~code/TITLE13/13_26.htm

- Michigan government's press release: http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-23442_21974-121645--,00.html

About the Author

Mohamad Zaki Hussein is the webmaster of http://www.webtrafficideas.com. To learn how to increase web site traffic to your website by using a combination of Viral Marketing, RSS and Blog, grab the FREE "Instant Traffic Formula" report at http://www.webtrafficideas.com/getviral.

---

How To Write E-mail Messages For Phenomenal Results

Would you be interested in getting 10 times better results... Read More

Turn Your Old Articles Into Profitable E-mail Courses

If you've written numerous articles, you can use them to... Read More

3 Simple Steps on how to Get Unlimited E-Mail Accounts for Pennies a Day

As an Online Home Based busy owner you will reach... Read More

Make All Your Mailing Lists Double Opt-In

Accusations of spam can be so harmful to your business... Read More

Email List Management

How do you get the most out of your list?We... Read More

12 Tips For Writing Winning E-mail

Learning to write more effective e-mail is a valuable skill... Read More

10 Essential Steps to Developing a Successful E-Mail Marketing Campaign

Developing and executing a successful e-mail marketing campaign is becoming... Read More

8 Quick, Hot Reasons You Should Offer an E-mail Course Today

1. E-mail courses are generally quick and easy to create.... Read More

Analysing Autoresponders

An autoresponder is an automatic or software-mailing program. Why... Read More

Just Write an Email

How did you sell your last product? Imagine that I... Read More

Let The Email Wars Begin

Things just got a lot hotter in the hyper-competitive world... Read More

One Great Way To Generate A Lot Of Cold Hard Cash From Your Opt-In Email List

I bet you want to know what that one great... Read More

Summary of Adestras Presentation on Best Practice EZines at the July NEPA Conference

At the recent Online Marketing Show, Adestra ran an email... Read More

Email: When You Dont Get a Response

The lack of an email response is an issue I... Read More

An Aspirin or an Autoresponder!

Tired of silly old email enquiries? Say hello to autoresponders!If... Read More

Kick-Starting E-mail Profits Growth From One Single Shot!

Perhaps the most critical step in guaranteeing the success of... Read More

Build Credibility With an Email Course

When you are an expert, you sometimes forget that others... Read More

Why Does Your Business Need An Autoresponder?

Suppose you have a website with 500 visitors a day,... Read More

Taking Care of Busines... E-mail

In this digital day and age, communicating through email is... Read More

How To Set Up an Ezine Encyclopedia

Do you read all your Ezines? Or do you file... Read More

Build Your Opt-In List Today

There are many services available to help your with building... Read More

Email Microtargeting

Email marketing is undergoing rapid changes. Now, more than ever,... Read More

Say More Than Thank You

Most Websites are gathering e-mail addresses. When you submit your... Read More

How Can You Be Sure That Your Marketing Efforts Will Generate Profits?

There are several ways to ensure that your adverts are... Read More

How Effective is Your Email? How Can You Tell?

Is your email getting to your list members? If so,... Read More

Creating Effective Opt-in E-Mail Campaigns

It's been said before, but important to re-emphasize, e-mail is... Read More

E-Newsletter Layout: Add White Space to Improve Readability

White space in newsletters is like pausing in conversation. Take... Read More

Using Emotional Triggers in Ad Writing

Writing ads for either your own products or affiliate products... Read More

Autoresponders, Which Autoresponder Is Right For Your Business?

An autoresponder is a software program that automatically sends a... Read More

How Autoresonders Can Put Your Business On Autopilot

Owning your own online business is a lot of work.... Read More

Internet Tip of the Week: Mistakes Count Against You

Before the advent of email most of us, other than... Read More

Improve Email Deliverability: 15 Tips for Email Marketing Success

Delivering email newsletters and sales messages to opt-in subscribers and... Read More

How To Use Email Autoresponders to Boost Customer Loyalty

Your e-commerce website relies on its customers to become returning... Read More