The Legal Pitfalls of E-mail Marketing

This article discusses some of the legal pitfalls of e-mail marketing. Here are a few key pieces of insight from the article:

- Most of the SPAM you receive on a daily basis (even "innocent," non-fraudulent SPAM) is illegal under U.S. laws, but since most of the illegal e-mail solicitations originate in places that don't crack down on SPAMmers, or even encourage them, there is very little most Western governments can do about it.

- Many small businesses who have heard about the new federal anti-SPAM law may be unnecessarily refraining from doing e-mail marketing, for fear of the legal consequences. Such caution is certainly warranted, but you should not assume that all e-mail marketing is illegal.