Using the Internet Safely For Seniors

Figure 5-19

File a Spam Complaint

The United States federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 went into effect on

January 1, 2004. The CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-

Solicited Pornography and Marketing) was created by federal lawmak-

ers as a way to reduce spam. The CAN-SPAM Act states that it

“preempts all state law that regulates commercial e-mail except to the

extent that state law prohibits falsity or deception.”

The federal statute does the following:

➟ Requires commercial e-mail senders to provide recipi-

ents with the ability to opt out of receiving more

e-mail.

➟ Requires e-mail to be identified as advertisements or

commercial e-mail where applicable.

➟ Requires sexually-oriented e-mail to be labeled as

such in the subject line.

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Chapter 5: Risk-Free E-Mail