A lot of people ask us if Salesleads.tv sells email addresses. Our answer is always, “no.” There are two main reasons for this. First, half of what we buy is undeliverable or unverifiable. Second, and most important, we are in constant fear that our customers will start spamming (using the email addresses we provided) and get themselves in trouble.
There are several states that have additionally added felony consequences. Some examples are Virginia, Ohio, Georgia, and North Carolina. A young man named Jeremy Jaynes was the first person to ever be convicted of felony spamming. He and his sister were sending mass emails from their home in Raleigh, North Carolina. After sending millions of unsolicited email messages to recipients all over the world, they were charged and convicted out of Leesburg, Virginia (Virginia has the strictest anti-spam laws). James’s original sentence was for nine years in jail and after an arduous appeals process, the Virginia supreme court upheld the conviction and sentence in February of 2008. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Jaynes)
If you insist on sending commercial email, please read the information below and explore the links provided.
The FTC passed the “CAN-SPAM” act in 2003. Even though the name of the act is “Can SPAM” it applies to all commercial messages. The law defines commercial messages as:
“Any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service”
This includes email that promotes content on commercial websites. There is also no exceptions for business-to-business email correspondence, like there is in the telephone marketing FTC regulations. However, like the telephone marketing regulations, the fine for violation of the “Can-Spam” can be $16,000 for each separate violation of the act.
The rules for can spam are easy:
1.) Do not use false or misleading header information
2.) Do not use deceptive subject lines
3.) Identify the message as an advertisement
4.) Tell recipients where you’re located
5.) Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you.
6.) Honor opt-out requests promptly
7.) Monitor what others are doing on your behalf
I’m sure you’ve already bought some bogus email lists that resulted in ZERO response, but more importantly, did you catch the attention of the regulators?
For more details on the “Can-Spam” act, visit the website,
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm
…next blog: “Opt-in Email” What is it?
