FTC Wants Comments on CAN-SPAM

The FTC has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking relating to the CAN-SPAM Act.

This is the federal law attempting to limit spam.

The FTC will address 5 topics:

(1) defining the term “person,” a term used repeatedly throughout the Act but not defined there.

(2) modifying the definition of “sender” to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single e-mail message will be responsible for complying with the Act’s “opt-out” requirements.

(3) clarifying that Post Office boxes and private mailboxes established pursuant to United States Postal Service regulations constitute "valid physical postal addresses" within the meaning of the Act.

(4) shortening from ten days to three the time a sender may take before honoring a recipient's opt-out request.

(5) clarifying that to submit a valid opt-out request, a recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page.

Comments filed in electronic form can be submitted by going to: https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-canspam/

Comments must be received by JUNE 27, 2005.