After a year of relative silence, the fight against SPAM has started to ramp up again. In honor of the renewed buzz, I thought a quick review was in order.
ADV is out.
The FTC said it doubted requiring subject-line labels such as "ADV" would help block Spam. Surprise, surprise.
Sender ID is in.
Microsoft has stopped talking and started acting. If companies have not published their Sender Policy Framework (SPF) a "Sender Unknown" question mark symbol and a message, "The sender of this message could not be verified by Sender ID," appear on the respective email in the recipient's inbox.
Unfortunately, without a standard email authentication system, it's going to be a challenge to remain compliant and keep our costs down while we try. Read more about how the FTC is working with other companies to evaluate each program.
Spamming is out.
Scott Richter (a past guest of AiMA's email marketing event) settled with Microsoft for $7 million. Microsoft heralded the deal as a coup in the ongoing fight against unsolicited commercial e-mails - Spam.
PR Spin is still in.
OptInRealBig.com, beaten down by Microsoft, is on its way to recovery and success. Or so they say - see this affiliate marketing program post.
State laws are also still in.
If keeping compliant on a national level wasn't enough, try following the numerous state laws. Such as those laws in Utah and Michigan to protect minors. [Follow up post - Michigan Postpones Children's Email Registry]
So much is going on and it's hard to keep up. Yet, to avoid being caught in the crossfire, it's critical to know how these new advancements affect your email marketing efforts. Ignorance is not a valid defense.
More to come... Make sure to add your own comments and suggestions as well.
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