On January 1 the new CAN SPAM law goes into effect. What can we expect?
An article at CNet news.com provides some insight.
Alan Ralsky, perhaps the most prolific spammer of them all, plans to change his spamming ways, but he will still send marketing messages via email. We expected this. CAN SPAM is all about defining what is legitimate email marketing and what is not.
CAN SPAM is not all bad. At least it's clear what is illegal. Those who decide to break the law do so knowingly. And it is risky to break the law. As Ralsky says:
"Of course I'm worried about it. ... You would have to be stupid to try to violate this law."
I stand by my earlier prediction that eventually ISPs will begin to sell the email addresses of their subscribers. They will do this so that "legitimate" email marketers can avoid the shadiness of email address harvesting. Don't get me wrong: ultimately, ISPs will do this to make revenue. But the email marketers will ask them for the lists, and it will be impossible to say "no."
But I think I can safely make a new prediction. The email marketers will sue any legal entity that gets between them and their end-recipients to filter messages. Remember, the email marketing messages we are talking about are legal, and the intermediaries are interfering with normal commerce. Does anyone remember that Blue Mountain Arts (the company that enabled users to create eGreeting cards online) sued Microsoft over spam filters in Microsoft's Outlook Express?
The news.com article provides further evidence of lawsuits around the corner.
He [Ralsky] would identify himself, as required, and would honor any requests to be removed from his mailing lists, he said. He said that he was counting on Internet providers, in return, to stop trying to block his messages.
Attention ISPs: you've been warned!
To digress a bit, spammers truly are delusional. They are the little guys who are just trying to make it, but the corporations are all against them. My favorite quote from the article:
"E-mail marketing is a good thing," Battles said. "I create jobs. But the media has made e-mail out to be some sort of terrorist plot."
Do you suppose Battles was talking about all the jobs that were created at BrightMail, Message Labs, Postini, and other new anti-spam companies? Mr. Battles, don't you think those people would have been better employed doing something other than cleaning up the spam mess?
Posted by Doug Sauder at December 30, 2003 11:16 PM