Federal officials today approved four new rule provisions to a sweeping 5-year-old law known as “CAN-SPAM,” the nation’s first bill designed to regulate commercial e-mails.

 

Part of CAN-SPAM – short for the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 – require the Federal Trade Commission to develop rules that would shield consumers from unwanted mobile phone spam.

 

The new rules effectively will make it easier for unwanted e-mail recipients to get off of lists and make it easier to identify who sends those e-mails.

 

On its Web site, the today posted this message to consumers: “If you get spam e-mail that you think is deceptive, forward it to spam@uce.gov. The FTC (News - Alert) uses the spam stored in this database to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send deceptive e-mail.”

 

Though analysts say the amount of sexually explicit spam has been reduced due to developing anti-spam applications, the so-called “mobile marketing” industry has grown at a pace commensurate with mobile technology itself.

 

A nonprofit group representing those marketers – the Denver-based Mobile Marketing Association (News - Alert) – has been close at hand while the FTC develops its new rules.

 

It isn’t clear what the association thinks of the FTC’s 4-0 decision in favor of the rules. A spokesperson for the organization could not immediately be reached.

 

In a public statement issued last week, the association President Laura Marriott (News - Alert) said marketers must be included when the government makes decisions about mobile devices, and pushed to allow the industry to move forward without government interference.

 

“We applaud the efforts of the FTC to allow representatives of the mobile ecosystem to be heard,” Marriott said. “The MMA is pleased with the industry’s self-regulatory initiatives to reduce unsolicited messages, protect privacy and ensure a positive consumer experience.”

 

Specifically, the new rule provisions do the following:

 

1. An e-mail recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future e-mail from a sender;

 

2. The definition of “sender” was modified to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single e-mail message is responsible for complying with the Act’s opt-out requirements;

 

3. A “sender” of commercial e-mail can include an accurately-registered post office box or private mailbox established under United States Postal Service regulations to satisfy the Act’s requirement that a commercial e-mail display a “valid physical postal address”;

 

4. A definition of the term “person” was added to clarify that CAN-SPAM’s obligations are not limited to natural persons.