FTC Revises Compliance Rules for CAN SPAM

The Federal Trade Commission has approved several changes to Can Spam regulations related to compliance requirements for opting out of email lists and sender clarification.

The FTC bulletin can be found here

Highlights and my comments below it in (brightwave) blue...

New rules prohibit charging fees to opt out of e-mail lists, or requiring individuals to provide any more information other than their e-mail address and opt out preferences.
The impact here is to sites that require you to log in or register to change your preferences or unsubscribe. Many retailers follow this practice so headaches loom ahead. A great example of a well intentioned idea that in practice is more complicated and less practical for many permission email marketers than it seems.

The changes also specify that individuals seeking to opt out of lists must be able to accomplish this task by simply sending a reply e-mail message or by visiting a single Web page.
This is one that may seem painless but as we have covered before, many companies don't monitor their replies leaving ecommerce gaps and CAN-SPAM compliance holes. We routinely find that many companies don't allow replies or know where replies to campaigns go. This will have to change.

Another revision now allows e-mail senders to use postal addresses and P.O. boxes as return addresses
Nothing major here.

The definition of “sender” was modified to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single e-mail message is responsible for complying with the Act’s opt-out requirements.
What that means is not yet known, at least to me but if you only send emails to your house opt in lists than it should not affect you.

The current CAN-SPAM Act can be found here.