ClickZ: 2004: The Year of Suppression

Ben Isaacson reviewed the effects the Can-Spam Act and a potential do-not-email registry will have on marketers as well as consumers. The Can-Spam law mandates that email marketers honor unsubscribe requests, which sounds simple enough, but might prove unclear on whether or not that unsubscribe request will apply to related rental lists.

The act might have a real effect on spam if marketers must roll up the unsubscribed address to take it off the parent list. Otherwise, spammers could just create a "list" for each campaign, making unsubscribing meaningless. The law's language remains unclear on the issue. If a marketer acquires addresses through other valid opt-in methods from those who have previously unsubscribed, can the marketer begin to send emails to that person again? Those are the sorts of daunting questions facing email marketers.

Isaacson also offers some industry self-regulation suggestions to fend off over-regulation by outside parties. Those suggestions include promoting the DMA's email preference service, creating a universal unsubscribe standard and working with third party authenticators to ensure email identities.