Comment Number: OL-100042
Received: 8/24/2004 10:54:10 AM
Organization: Strategic Advisory Group
Commenter: George Mattathil
State: CA
Agency: Federal Trade Commission
Rule: Definitions, Implementation, and Reporting Requirements Under the CAN-SPAM Act (NPRM)
Docket ID: [3084-AA96]
No Attachments

Comments:

Subject: CAN-SPAM Act Rulemaking, Project No. R411008 Dear Sir/Madam, I have two comments: 1. Primary purpose The current rules depend too heavily on relationship between the email "subject line" and content to determine primary purpose. In addition to the various issues identified in the report, here is an additional problem. Bonafide email users tend to create "email threads" -- series of email exchanges that aggregate all or parts of the historical content. In this situation, the "subject line" frequently do not represent the "current" purpose of the email. Here is a suggestion to determine the primary purpose: Establish the primary purpose of an email based on how the email transmission is performed. SPAM emails are automatically sent by machines. A single email is not a problem, but a collection is. By exempting all emails that are manually sent by individuals from CAN-SPAM Act, the enforcement can be better targeted (Manual Exemption). This logic may be extended further, and emails that are sent automatically (beyond a certain threshold) are always covered by CAN-SPAM Act. 2. Small business impact Response to request for information (p 48): "small businesses that send commercial email messages or transactional or relationship messages" Email marketing is a cost effective marketing tool for small business for several reasons: - Near zero cost of sending emails (compared with post, or phone) - Low cost software and email hosting services that enable email for efficient marketing tool. CAN-SPAM Act needs to protect the use of email as a marketing tool, especially for small businesses. Yours truly, George Mattathil, Strategic Advisor & CEO, Strategic Advisory Group, http://StrategyGroup.net