FTC to Fight SPAM with New Definitions

The Federal Trade Commission, charged with the responsibility of enforcing the so far near-useless CAN-SPAM Act, has proposed rules to define commercial email using three criteria. The CAN-SPAM Act places restrictions on unsolicited commercial email that, to be enforced, need commercial email to be carefully defined. While most of us recognize it when we see it, that's not good enough for law enforcement, hence the proposed definition published in the Federal Register for comment by September 13th. Here are the proposed criteria:

First, proposed Sec. 316.3(a)(1) states that if an email message
contains only content that advertises or promotes a product or service
("commercial content"), then the "primary purpose" of the message
would be deemed to be commercial.
Second, proposed Sec. 316.3(a)(2) covers email messages that
contain both commercial content and content that falls within one of
the categories listed in Sec. 7702(17)(A) of the Act ("transactional
or relationship content"). The "primary purpose" of such an email
message would be deemed to be commercial if either: (1) a recipient
reasonably interpreting the subject line of the message would likely
conclude that the message advertises or promotes a product or service;
or (2) the message's transactional or relationship content does not
appear at or near the beginning of the message.
Third, proposed Sec. 316.3(a)(3) covers email messages that
contain both commercial content and content that is neither commercial
nor "transactional or relationship." In such a case, the primary
purpose of the message would be deemed to be commercial if either: (1)
a recipient reasonably interpreting the subject line of the message
would likely conclude that the message advertises or promotes a product
or service; or (2) a recipient reasonably interpreting the body of the
message would likely conclude that the primary purpose of the message
is to advertise or promote a product or service.

Do they do it for you? Let the FTC know (scroll down). The final rule is expected out in December.