CAN-SPAM 2005 Reality-Check: How the FTC's Newly Finalized Definitions Really Affect Emailers.(Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003)(Federal Trade Commission )

Note: We are not lawyers, nor did legal counsel review this article prior to publication. Please check with your own lawyer for help.

The FTC's final rulings on the CAN-SPAM Act were published Thursday, December 16, 2004 -- exactly one year to the date that the Act was first passed.

The document is 81-pages long (see link below). And yet, most of the commentary we've seen in the press about it completely misses the point.

You see, those 81-pages are taken up with arguments to and fro about what type of email is covered by the Act. They boil down to what you already guessed using common sense. Commercial emails are anything that's primarily promotional or that focuses on driving clicks to a site that's primarily promotional.

It could be anything from a sales alert to your house list to a pitch letter sent by one of your field sales reps to a single prospect.

In our opinion, the lengthy fuss most people are making about this definition has obscured the most critical factor. It's not which email is included, it's what's required of that email.

On the surface, the requirements appear to be so utterly basic that even a dummy could comply. Why worry what's "commercial" or not? Just sling your street address and an opt-out link on all email you send, abstain from slimy "deceptive" subject lines, add some copy if you mail porn, and you're all set.