CAMBRIDGE, MA - August 12, 2004 -
EchoMail, provider of E-Mail Relationship Management solutions and one of the early advocates of E-Mail Privacy Best Practices, issued an advisory today that the FTC is currently seeking public comment on proposed rules regarding commercial electronic mail messages; part of the next mandate of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.
At the center of the issue, is how to define when an e-mail message has a commercial primary purpose, and is therefore subject to the CAN-SPAM Act. During recent hearings, the Commission heard over 200 comments, with criteria ideas ranging from using sender identity, content value and order, recipient impression, or sender intent.
From those hearings, the FTC is proposing the following criteria for determining when an e-mail message has a commercial primary purpose:
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First, if an e-mail message contains only content that advertises or promotes a product or service ("commercial content"), then the primary purpose of the message would be deemed commercial;
Second, if an e-mail message contains both commercial content and content that falls within one of the categories listed in the Act's definition of "transactional or relationship message," then the primary purpose of the message would be deemed to be commercial if either 1) a recipient reasonably interpreting the subject line of the message would likely conclude that the message advertises or promotes a product or service; or 2) the message's "transactional or relationship" content does not appear at or near the beginning of the message;
Third, if an e-mail message contains both commercial content and content that is neither "commercial" nor "transactional or relationship," then the primary purpose of the message would be deemed to be commercial if either: 1) a recipient reasonably interpreting the subject line of the message likely would conclude that the message advertises or promotes a product or service; or 2) a recipient reasonably interpreting the body of the message likely would conclude that the primary purpose of the message is to advertise or promote a product or service. Factors illustrative of those relevant to this interpretation would include the placement of commercial content at or near the beginning of the body of the message; the proportion of the message dedicated to commercial content; and how color, graphics, type size, and style are used to highlight commercial content.
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"The FTC's request is our invitation to help the industry, I encourage you to take this opportunity to send your comments, said V.A. Shiva, EchoMail, CEO. Legitimate e-mail marketers, businesses and recipients are plagued by UCE, now we can lay the foundation for best business practices that all entities will respect."
Through September 13, comments can be filed electronically by following instructions on a Web-based form available on the following Web site: https://secure.commentworks.com/ftc-canspam.
Background:
The CAN-SPAM Act, which took effect January 1, 2004, primarily seeks to ensure that senders of commercial email not mislead recipients as to the source or content of such messages, and to ensure that recipients of commercial email have a right to decline to receive additional commercial email from a particular source. For additional information on this proposed ruling, copies of the Federal Register Notice are available from the FTC's Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.
About EchoMail
EchoMail, Inc. develops award-winning E-Mail direct marketing, customer care, business intelligence, lead management, data warehousing, and e-billing solutions for the Fortune 1000. The EchoMail Suite powers large volumes of inbound and outbound E-Mail by automatically receiving, processing, responding, storing, and tracking all correspondence in an ASP, licensed, or agency environment. EchoMail, founded in 1994, is a privately held technology company based in Cambridge, MA. For more information, visit www.echomail.com.
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