What business person doesn't dream of the opportunity to reach millions of new customers quickly, effortlessly, and almost without cost? That technology now exists on the internet, in the form of mass electronic mailings. We all know that email is the principal method of electronic communication--in fact, the number of emails last year well exceeded the number of letters sent. However, where such mailings are commercial in nature and are sent out "cold"--to people who have not requested them--they may well violate the law. Accordingly, the rules applicable to this wonderful tool should be fully understood and considered before use.This practice, commonly known as "spamming" or "UCE's"-unsolicited commercial emails--,@ is generally defined as the electronic transmission of unsolicited advertising materials to a party with whom the sender has no business or personal relationship, where the materials are not sent at the request of, or with the express consent of, the recipient. "Spam" is often characterized as "electronic junk mail." In reality, however, it is worse-or better, depending on your position--than ordinary junk mail. Since UCE's carry no postage, a "spammer" can literally send millions of transmissions daily virtually without cost (other than the price of a readily available, and inexpensive mailing list). Several states (including California, Colorado, Virginia, Washington and Nevada, among others) have passed aggressive new laws to control the practice of spamming. The federal government is currently considering several tough new bills, and is expected to pass legislation in the near future. Several ISP's, aided by various consumer and lobbying groups, have adopted anti-spamming rules and regulations, which they attempt to impose on their subscribers and third parties, with penalties ranging from expulsion to blacklisting. Culling together the present patchwork of overlapping, and sometime conflicting laws, guidelines and policies, we present the following suggestions on your use of commercial email. NOTE: The following suggestions are necessarily general in nature. Their applicability to your particular situation will largely depend on your target audience, the geographic location of that audience, the nature of the transmissions sent the number of emails sent, and a myriad of other factors which should be carefully considered.

1. In sending UCE's you should not (i) use a domain name which belongs to a third party, without that party=s permission, or which is unregistered or fictitious, or (ii) take any other action which otherwise misrepresents or disguises the message=s point of origin or the transmission path of the UCE. Additionally, where possible, you should attempt to ascertain the spamming rules of the ISP's to whom your recipients subscribe, so as to avoid knowingly violating such rules. There are groups that will seek to blacklist known spammers. You do not wish to be designated a target of such groups.

2. The subject line of the UCE should not contain false or misleading information. Where you are doing business in California and the UCE is directed to a California resident and is sent through a California ISP, California law requires that the first four characters of the subject line must be AADV:@. If the UCE relates to adult content, the first eight characters of the subject line must be ADV:ADLT@. Failure to comply with the foregoing law is a crime in California. http://www.jmls.edu/cyber/statutes/email/ca1676-2.html

3. The first text in the body of the UCE should be the same size type as the majority of the text of the message, should contain the URL of the transmitting web site, and should include a toll-free telephone number or a valid email address which the recipient may use to reach you. The UCE should contain a statement informing the recipient that he or she may use the toll free number or email address contained in the UCE to instruct you to send no further UCE=s to email addresses specified by the recipient. Upon receipt of such notice, you should immediately remove the recipient and all specified email addresses from all of your UCE mailing lists. While email can be a wonderful marketing device, like any other form of advertising, it must comply with all applicable rules. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular business' application of this technology, to ensure compliance.