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CAN-SPAM key events during 2004
Compiled by MX Logic

January
• The CAN-SPAM Act goes into effect on Jan. 1. While the law does not prohibit unsolicited commercial e-mail, it does require that senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail senders:
• Identify themselves in the "from" line of e-mail
• Include a subject line that's consistent with the e-mail's message
• Include a valid postal address
• Include a mechanism that allows recipients to opt out of future e-mail from the sender

  March

• Hypertouch, a California ISP, files the first civil lawsuit under CAN-SPAM against the owner of BobVila.com.
• America Online Inc., EarthLink Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. file the first major ISP lawsuits under CAN-SPAM.

  April

• The first criminal prosecution under CAN-SPAM Act happens in Michigan. Arrest warrants are issued for four men charged with sending out hundreds of thousands of fraudulent unsolicited e-mail messages advertising a weight loss product.

  May

• The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires all unsolicited e-mail with sexually oriented content to include the label “SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT:” in the subject line.

  June

• The FTC releases a study required in CAN-SPAM about the feasibility of a national do-not-spam registry. The FTC concludes that a registry would be nearly impossible to implement and could create a target for spammers.

  August

• As part of Operation Web Snare, the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles announced it filed charges against a man for sending unsolicited e-mail advertising pornographic Web sites from his laptop computer while driving through Venice, California, and using unsecured wireless access.

  September

• Nicholas Tombros, the "wireless spammer", becomes first person convicted under the CAN-SPAM Act.

  November

• The FTC and the National Institute of Standards and Technology convene an Email Authentication Summit.
• Jeremy Jaynes, considered one of the world's top spammers, is sentenced to nine years in prison under Virginia's antispam law for sending millions of spam messages to America Online customers.

  December

• A Maryland judge overturns the state's antispam law (2002 Commercial Electronic Mail Act), ruling that it interferes with interstate commerce.
• A federal judge in Iowa orders three companies to pay an ISP more than $1 billion in spam-related damages. The judgment, based on an Iowa antispam law, is believed to be the largest fine against a spammer to date.

Posted December 29, 2004 05:18 PM | TrackBack (0)