Come July 1, Michigan and Utah will have do-not-email laws taking effect, which will enable parents to add their children's email addresses and cell phone numbers to a list to keep them from getting spam of any kind, but porn spam in particular.
"Email senders are starting to realize that these new laws take affect on Friday," said Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy president Anne P. Mitchell June 29. "But many of them don't believe that the laws apply to them, and none of them understand what they need to do in order to comply. It's mass confusion out there."
Both states' do-not-email laws ban commercial emailers from sending any kind of advertising to any addresses on the lists, but allows individuals and schools and other child-oriented groups to put on the lists any e-mail address to which minors might have access. Both states passed their laws in 2004, and both laws mandated a July 1 effective date.
"The laws are very clear about this," Mitchell said. "The Michigan law says 'The registry shall be fully operational not later than July 1, 2005.' These registries are going into effect next week, and absolutely nobody realizes it. We've talked with several top-tier email marketing firms and email service providers, and they were all just stunned to learn that they need to start scrubbing their mailing lists against these registries next month or face criminal sanctions."
Those who don't obey can be hit with fines up to $30,000 or jail up to three years or both.
"Businesses should recognize that, right or wrong, these laws affect both solicited and unsolicited email," said AWeber Communications chief executive Tom Kulzer in a statement.
Indeed, ISIPP will offer an information and compliance tele-seminar to deal with the Michigan and Utah laws July 7, the better to help them understand the laws and know what needs to be done to come into compliance if they want to keep doing business in those two states.
"The emailers we've talked with are very worried about this, and rightly so," said Mitchell, who also said she was astonished by how many commercial emailers her group contacted that had been unaware of the two laws about to take effect. "That's why we're offering the tele-seminar next week, to explain these new laws and what one has to do, and not do, to be in compliance."
But at least one cyberspace safety advocate is not entirely supportive of the Michigan and Utah laws. WiredSafety.org leader Parry Aftab calls the laws well meaning but flawed, particularly regarding the very thing the laws were aimed to protect—children's privacy and safety.
"Anytime anyone starts collecting lists of children, it's subject to hacking and misuse," Aftab told reporters June 29. "The last thing I want is anyone to have a large database of children."
