The Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy (ISIPP) is offering a teleseminar to help email senders, and email marketers and email service providers in particular, understand what they need to do in order to comply with the new child protection email address registry laws which went effect on Friday, July 1.
“Email senders are starting to realize that these new laws take affect on Friday,” explained Anne P. Mitchell, President and CEO of the Institute and a Professor of Internet Law at Lincoln Law School of San Jose, “but many of them don’t believe that the laws apply to them, and none of them understand what they need to do in order to comply. It’s mass confusion out there.”
The “Child Protection Registry” laws went into affect on Friday, July 1st, and apply to all senders of commercial email, whether solicited or not, said Mitchell. And while the registries are in Michigan and Utah, they apply to any sender inside the United States or even who just has a presence in the United States, she explained. Starting on Friday, individuals may place on the registries any email address “to which a minor may have access”. Organizations which primarily provide services for children, such as schools, may also register entire Internet domains. Once an email address is on the registry, commercial emailers are prohibited from sending it anything containing advertising, or even just linking to advertising, for a product or service that a minor is otherwise legally prohibited from accessing, such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling, prescription drugs, or adult-rated material.
The new laws apply to any email which may market products or services which are forbidden for children, explained Senator Mike Bishop, sponsor of the Michigan legislation. “While no law will conclusively solve the problem of spam or replace parents as the primary resource for teaching children right from wrong, Michigan’s Child Protection Registry helps extend to the ‘digital world’ the same level of protection and comfort afforded to children and parents in the real world,” Bishop said. “Any vendor who markets a product, be it tobacco, alcohol, pornography or any other item that a minor cannot legally purchase, is now required by law to check their email lists against the registry.”
Penalties for sending such email to an email address on the registry include “imprisonment for not more than 3 years or a fine of not more than $30,000.00, or both.” Internet service providers and individuals are empowered to sue under the new laws. To avoid incurring such penalties, email senders must match their mailing lists against the registries on a monthly basis.
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In order to help email senders to understand the new laws and what they must do, ISIPP is offering a teleseminar on the new laws on Thursday, July 7th. Registration is limited and is on a first-come first-served basis.
In addition to offering the teleseminar, ISIPP’s IADB Email Sender Accreditation Service is the only accreditation, or “reputation”, service for email senders which identifies those email senders that are complying with the new Michigan and Utah laws. ISIPP’s IADB allows receiving email systems to check on an email sender’s credentials in real time including, now, whether they are complying with the new Child Protection Registry laws.
Email senders interested in ISIPP’s July 7th teleseminar on “Child Protection Email Address Registry Compliance” can register at https://web.archive.org/web/20090703042448/http://www.isipp.com:80/events.php
Information about ISIPP’s IADB Email Senders Accreditation Program, which includes Child Protection Registry compliance notification, is available at http://www.isipp.com/iadb.php
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.
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