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What Exactly is Spam?Spam, as defined in the context of computers, the Internet and electronic messaging, is a term used to designate unsolicited bulk electronic messaging and communication. In particular, spam is unsolicited bulk mailings that are commercially oriented. It is most commonly used in advertising, but it is also used to perpetrate religious, political or other types of messages. Spam is, often times, considered the electronic equivalent of junk postal mail, telemarketing or broadcast faxing. Spam got its bad name and reputation from the advertisement of ill reputable and questionable products, such as pornography, pyramid schemes, fad products, pump-and-dump stocks, etc.Spam is delivered via several mediums, to include: · E-mail messages · Search engines · Instant messaging · Web blogs · Usenet newsgroups · Text messaging mobile phones · Internet telephony The growth of spam is a result of the cost benefit to initiators, who need only devise and develop distribution lists. The other associated costs of spam, such as bandwidth, message management and loss of productivity, become the responsibility of recipients of the messages, ISPs or other public and private entities. In 2003, the US passed the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003, which establishes standards for sending commercial e-mail. More specifically, the act is intended “to regulate interstate commerce by imposing limitations and penalties on the transmission of unsolicited, commercial electronic mail via the Internet”. The act establishes the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as the overseer of its provisions. The act establishes electronic mail as extremely important in communication since it “provides an opportunity for the development and growth of frictionless commerce”, which is being threatened by unsolicited commercial email. The act establishes the following as criminal behaviors when used in connection with foreign or interstate electronic mail: · Knowingly accessing a protected computer without authorization · Intentionally deceiving or misleading the origin of messages · Falsifying header information · Falsifying registration information for 5 or more e-mail accounts or 2 or more domain names · Falsely representing one's self as the registrant of 5 or more IP addresses · Obtaining e-mail addresses through improper means · Perpetrating fraud, identity theft, child pornography, obscenity and the sexual exploitation of children. Criminal penalties include a fine and/or imprisonment for up to 5 years dependent upon: · The volume of electronic transmissions · The amount of falsified information · Losses incurred by others · Monetary gains from the act · Whether the act was committed in furtherance of an felony · Prior offenses. Civil penalties are dependent upon the jurisdiction placing the charges and may range from hundreds of dollars to millions of dollars, dependent upon the severity of the crimes and losses involved. Also, property traceable to proceeds from monetary gains and equipment used to commit an offense may be forfeited to the US government. As critics of the law argue, the legislation fails to dictate to marketers and advertisers, not to spam. In fact, the act does not make reference to the term, “spam”, except as used in the name, CAN-SPAM. The act makes reference to the phrase, commercial electronic mail message, and defines it to be “any electronic mail message, the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service (including content on an Internet website operated for a commercial purpose)”. Legislation is intended to curb practices inherent in spamming, such as e-mail harvesting, dictionary attacks and using viruses and Trojans to perpetrate messages. The act establishes the following with respect to commercial electronic mail messages: · A message must contain a legitimate return address. · A message must include and specify a method to opt-out of receiving further messages. The ability to opt-out must be available for 30 days. · The sender may not initiate messages after 10 days of receipt of an opt-out. · The sender may not sell, lease, exchange or transfer the opt-out e-mail address to an affiliate. · The sender may offer a menu of options that allow the recipient to either opt-out or opt-in to future messages*. · A message must include an identifier that specifies the message as an advertisement or solicitation. · Messages containing sexually oriented material must contain clearly identifiable markings or notices · A message must include a valid, physical, postal address by which the sender may be contacted. · The sender may not send messages to addresses that were knowingly acquired from proprietary websites and ISPs, through automated methods. Particularly, when the site or ISP provides notice of their refusal to give, sell or transfer addresses for the purpose of initiating electronic mail messages. · The sender may not create automated scripting and other means to gain multiple email addresses for the purpose of transmitting illegal messages. · The sender may not transmit messages from a computer or email address obtained without authorization. *Unlike opt-out advertising, which allows the recipients of advertisement to discontinue any unwanted advertisements from the sender, opt-in advertising allows the advertiser to request to have specific advertisement sent. The recipient may allow or deny permission to have further advertisement sent. If allowed, the advertiser immediately includes that e-mail address to its distribution list. Another option is, double opt-in advertising, which is similar to opt-in advertising except that once the recipient grants permission to send advertisements, a confirmation request is sent to the recipient to verify that they did, indeed, allow the permission. The e-mail address is added to the distribution list only after the recipient has positively responded to the confirmation request. CAN-SPAM is not intended to provide cause for the general public to sue spammers, individually or in class action suits. It is designed to allow enforcement by the FTC and other federal agencies for the benefit of the general public. Individuals remain privy to the state laws and regulations of their particular jurisdictions. About the author: Matt Bacak became "##1 Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours. Recent Entrepreneur Magazine's e-Biz radio show host is turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts into Overnight Success Stories. Discover The Secrets http://promotingtips.com Circulated by Article Emporium What Exactly is Spam? Spam, as defined in the context of computers, the Internet and electronic messaging, is a term used to designate unsolicited bulk electronic messaging and communication. In particular, spam is unsolicited bulk mailings that are commercially oriented. It is most commonly used in adv... Can You Really Earn MONEY As An Affiliate? Copyright 2005 Jugglingmum The answer is a most definite yes! After researching the topic of Affiliate Marketing for a few months (I like to be thorough!) I decided to run a little test and see if I could earn some real money – not pennies. I used strategies that to... The No #1 Reason Why People “Getting Started” In Internet Marketing Are Getting It Wrong. Copyright 2005 Jo Han Mok It's tragic. Statistical data from survey results have shown that the No #1 problem that people face in Internet Marketing is “getting started”. And what's really sad about this is that the people who are actually “getting started”... My 7-Step Secret Formula For Cashing In On Content! Copyright 2005 Kurma Group Content, content, content - everybody's talking about it! Are you lucky enough to have a ton of content - maybe from an ezine you've been publishing for years? Then realize this: there's a right and a wrong way to put content online. The wr... Send Your Website An INSTANT 'Surge' Of FREE Targeted Traffic Using "T.O.D." Copyright 2005 The IWE, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Traffic... the life blood of every online business. The problem is, are you getting enough of it to make your online business grow to your expectations within the time period you have set? In my mind you can nev... Advertising DOs and DONTs Copyright 2004 Mal Keenan From early on in my online career I realised that the fastest way to internet riches was to find a marketing concept that brought me profits and plough as much as I could into that resource, thus building my business and capital as I went. Copyright 2005 Sharon Housley In order to determine which advertising and marketing efforts are effective you must have ways to measure the results of those efforts. Alerts and instant notifications can be instrumental in monitoring search engine position, trademarked terms,... What’s The Best Network Marketing Opportunity For You? Are you looking for a good network marketing opportunity? Want to tap into the secrets of Internet billionaires? Wish to be a top revenue maker? Then you should follow in the footsteps of successful marketers, and do what they do – find a network marketing opportunity that feels ... Understanding Affiliate Programs Copyright 2004 Sharon Housley Affiliate programs are commonly misunderstood, in order to understand affiliate programs lets start with terminology. For clarification purposes, an affiliate is defined as any "referrer" or website that promotes a product in an effort to earn r... Hard work. MAKE A MILLION $ PER MONTH. No work involved. Do it whilst sitting on the beach at Maliboo. This may sound a bit extreme but how many adverts have you seen that are similar to it? The trouble is that so many newcomers to the interne... 3 Steps to Creating Your Own Ezine to Increase Web Site Traffic! 3 Steps to Creating Your Own Ezine to Increase Web Site Traffic! - Mark Williams © What if I showed you a simple way to increase web site traffic that could sky-rocket your sales and make you an internet expert. Would you be interested? I sure ho... How To Indirectly Get To The Top Of Search Engines Copyright 2005 Ronald Gibson There are millions of web sites trying to get listed in the top 20 spots of the major search engines. That amounts to a lot of competition! Even if your website can't get in the Top 20, you can use indirect ways to get it there. How do yo... 10 Totally Easy Ways To Increase Your Sales Now Increasing your sales doesn't have to be hard or require a large investment of money or time from you.It can be as easy as making a phone call or writing a note to a business associate. Here are some totally easy ways that you can use to start increasing your sales today. ... What Size Body Section Ranks Highest? Copyright 2004 Jon Ricerca This is another one of the controversial questions in many of the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) forums, yet it is very easy to answer for any particular search engine. While popular belief seems to be that pages should be very short (less than 1... The Home Business University That Changed My Life Copyright 2005 Gobala Krishnan During my first 2 years as a struggling home business entrepreneur dreaming of making big money and leading a free lifestyle, I made many mistakes. Some of those mistakes cost me money. Others caused me heartache, and a few almost completely de...
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