ETD: 762 SPECIAL REPORT: The Can Spam Act

[E-Tailer's Digest]

  E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the  Retailer
  Issue #0762                     February 19, 2004
  George Matyjewicz, Moderator         mailto:georgem at gapent.com
  Published by:  GAP Enterprises, Ltd.  http://www.etailersdigest.com
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   CONTENTS

  [1]  Greetings
  [2]  SPECIAL REPORT: The Can Spam Act

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  [1]  Greetings.
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Hi All:

Today we have a special report "The Can Spam Act."   Jim Straw makes some 
excellent comments on this proposed act.  What do you think?

I'm in London and will be returning tomorrow (Friday).  Let's have some 
comments and posts for next week.  I need your help.

Let's hear about your business,  which will remain  for posterity at 
our  "Members: Who Are You?" site. 
http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And we have a form 
there for you to tell us about you.  As I said when I first proposed this 
idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we often don't know 
anything about each other.   So, tell us who you are and what you do.

Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.

Sincerely


George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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  [2]  The Can Spam Act
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With all the hoopla about the new “Can Spam Act,” let's take a closer look 
at ...

Regulations & Regulators

When you were a small child, your Mother  probably told you to “Stop, Look 
and Listen, before you cross the street.”  Her rule was handed down out of 
her love and concern for you. -- She didn't want to find you 
“squashed-like-a-bug” in the middle of the street. -- And, if she caught 
you violating her rule, she punished you.

Your Mother did not make the rule to punish you.  She made the rule to 
protect you from yourself.  The punishment only came if you violated the 
rule and put yourself in jeopardy.

Later, when you began driving a car, the public again told you to “Stop, 
Look and Listen, before you cross the street,” and they erected STOP signs 
to remind you of that rule.

The public rule (law) was made to both protect you from yourself and other 
members of the public, and to protect the public from you. -- Again, the 
rule was not made to punish you.

Have you noticed, however, that there aren't any STOP signs required by law 
at the end of your private driveway.  But, a wise and prudent person will 
Stop, Look and Listen at the end of their own driveway before entering or 
crossing the street.

If EVERY member of the public were totally responsible, there would be no 
need for either the rule (law) or the STOP sign, and the regulators 
(police) would have no reason to exist; in regard to traffic violations 
involving STOP signs anyway.

This simple illustration explains fully the ONLY & TRUE PURPOSE OF LAW. -- 
But ...

As with anything having to do with human beings, the purpose of the law can 
be (and often is) altered to make it punitive/vindictive, protective, 
revenue producing, or even extortive in nature.

As a simple example, let's return to the traffic laws.

Like all laws, the only and true purpose of the traffic laws is to have 
rules which will provide for responsible action by each member of society 
(the public).  But, those laws have been, and are being, used for a 
multitude of other purposes.

PUNITIVE/VINDICTIVE PURPOSES -- A local politician, bureaucrat, or law 
enforcement officer has a personal confrontation with a citizen.  The next 
thing you know, that citizen is getting traffic citations every time he 
leaves his home.  Any minor infraction of the law; even doing 37 MPH in a 
35 MPH Zone, becomes a cause of action.

PROTECTIVE PURPOSES -- (This actually happened to me, so I will relate the 
story to you.) -- Some 28 years ago, I owned and operated a retail store 
downtown in a small city in Tennessee.  The only parking available downtown 
was on-street, metered parking.

Across the street from my retail store was a mortuary which had been at 
that location for well over 50 years.  When they had a funeral service, it 
was their practice to cover the parking meters on their side of the street; 
a full city block, with “Reserved Funeral Parking” bags.

One morning, I arrived at my store at the customary time; between 7:30 and 
8:00 a.m.  Because the parking on my side of the street was filled, I 
parked across the street and fed the required 25¢ into the meter for 2 
hours parking.

About 8:30 that morning, the mortuary covered the parking meters with the 
“Reserved Funeral Parking” bags.  At about 9 o'clock, one of my employees 
came to my office to tell me a police patrol car was issuing a “ticket” on 
my parked car.

When I got the $20 parking ticket (and moved my car back to my side of the 
street), I telephoned my attorney -- after all, I still had about an hour 
of “paid” parking left on the meter.

My attorney called back later to tell me that he had checked the City Code 
and there was no “rule” about parking at “covered” meters.  As a matter of 
fact, there wasn't even any authority for anyone to cover the meters.

Rather than paying the ticket, I appeared in City Court on the date ordered 
by the ticket.

The City Judge was a little bit surprised by my appearance in his 
court.  After all, nobody ever comes to court about a “parking ticket;” 
they just pay the small fine and forget it. -- He was even more surprised 
when he asked me if I was pleading “Guilty” or “Not Guilty” and I 
responded, “Neither one.”

After I explained to the Judge that there was NO LAW forbidding the parking 
at covered meters; nor was there any law even authorizing covered meters, 
he dismissed the case for “lack of cause.”

Two weeks later my attorney sent me a copy of the new amendments to the 
City Code.  One of those amendments authorized mortuaries downtown to 
reserve and cover parking meters for funeral attendees, and exacted a $20 
fine for parking at one of those covered meters.

As far as I know, “Straws Parking Law” is still on the books in that 
Tennessee city, and that law is purely “protective” for the one and only 
mortuary downtown.

REVENUE PRODUCING PURPOSES -- The stories of small, one-horse towns that 
operate “speed-traps” across this country are legend.  -- The only real 
purpose of the speed-limit laws in those towns is to produce revenue for 
the town itself.

Beyond this obvious revenue producing purpose, it isn't uncommon for local 
government (city, county and state) to “tighten-up” on the traffic laws in 
their areas in order to enhance their local budgets.  After all, its easy, 
because most people don't contest their tickets.  They just pay the fine 
and forget it.

EXTORTIVE PURPOSES -- The most blatant example of an extortive purpose 
applied to a traffic law occurred back when the Federal Government enacted 
the 55 MPH speed limit nationwide.  Part of that particular enactment was 
that the states were required to post, implement and enforce the 55 MPH 
speed limit -- or -- the state would lose it's Federal Highway fundings. -- 
If that isn't extortion, my dictionary is malfunctioning.

Of course, the PURPOSE of Law can also be perverted in the opposite 
direction as well. -- Lazy, careless, or inept law enforcement officers 
(regulators) may simply fail to enforce the provisions of the law.  Some 
other regulators may choose to enforce the laws more leniently and 
favorably for their friends and cohorts.  Then again, a few greedy ones 
will enforce the laws according to who pays the most.

Now, you know more about the LAW than some attorneys and a good many  (if 
not most) bureaucrats.

LAW, in and of itself, is neither good, nor bad.  It is only the rules 
mandated by the public to prescribe and enforce the responsibility and 
accountability of each member of the public.  The LAW has no other 
legitimate purpose, but, as I have illustrated, the law is used by human 
beings to force their will upon other members of the public for various 
purposes.

Although the “Can Spam Act” is ludicrous on its face, absurd in its 
entirety, and a travesty against the free enterprise system upon which this 
nation was founded, it is now the “law of the land” when it comes to the 
sending of email. -- But ...

Too many of the Internet Gurus ... without education in the practice of law 
... have taken it upon themselves to “interpret” the new law -- scaring the 
bejeebers out of too many small email marketers. -- Usually, with the 
objective of selling some kind of manual, course or computer tool to 
protect the email marketer from being labeled a “spammer.”

NOTE:  If you will notice, I am using the word “spam” without adding 
asterisks between the letters to protect this publication from being 
labeled spam. -- There is a method in my seeming madness. -- If this issue 
is labeled “spam” and returned to me, I will simply remove that person from 
my list. - Why? -- Because, anyone who “claims” to want to learn about 
making money and has a spam blocker on their email to block business 
messages is just “pretending” to want to be in business.  In my humble 
opinion, they aren't serious enough about making money  to be on my list.

Contrary to what the scare’em-into-buying-something Internet Gurus have 
told you, the Can Spam Act specifically excludes “transactional and 
relationship marketing” from the definition of “commercial electronic mail 
message” under the act. -- That means ...

If someone buys something from you, inquires about your products or 
services, receives a “freebie” from you, signs up for an ezine you publish 
(even if they don't double opt-in), or in any way corresponds with you by 
email ... creating a “relationship” ... you may legally add them to your 
email list - and - the Can Spam Act DOES NOT apply to your emailings to 
them. -- Plain and simple.
The Can Spam Act, in actuality, only applies to unsolicited “bulk” emailings.
Unless you are guilty of doing unsolicited “bulk” emailings, you have 
little to fear of the act.  That is, unless of course some officious person 
decides to use it in a punitive/vindictive, protective, revenue producing, 
or even extortive way against you personally. -- But ...

Anytime anyone even intimates that “you” are a spammer ... delete them from 
you email list immediately (if not sooner) -- as I have done since 1999 
when I first started my e-Letter.

Never fear the law. -- Fear the “people” who, in their quest for power over 
others, may use the law for punitive/vindictive, protective, revenue 
producing, or even extortive purposes.

Law is a shield - but - in far too many cases it is wielded as a sword by 
those people entrusted to enforce the laws.
By the way, the Can Spam Act came into force on January 1, 2004 - but - 
according to my email logs, “spam” to my email address has increased by 
just over 7%. -- Go figure!
--

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You may contact me directly by Mail, Phone, or FAX, to ...

J.F. (Jim) Straw
PHLANDER Company
P.O. Box 5385
Cleveland, TN 37320-5385
Phone: (706) 259-2280  --  FAX: (706) 259-2291
http://www.businesslyceum.com/mdl.html


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