[epub] Re: New MI and UT email compliance laws, July 1st enacted

[Mike Banks Valentine <learn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

While I by no means support stupid laws that are unlikely to be 
effective or helpful, I can't help but think we're over-reacting to 
this.

> First, I understand the law went into effect yesterday, but does that 
> mean
> from here on out we can be sued or do we have some time to sort out our
> options?

Test cases are nearly always filed by lawmakers against blatant 
sure-to-lose bad guys first. IF the lawmakers win and no legal 
challenges are settled in favor of the bad guys, THEN they go after 
more big blatant offenders. The chances that somebody - especially a 
small business operator who is attempting to abide by the law - will 
get fined are very slim.

> Is anyone else thinking about totally ceasing all email publications? I
> haven't decided yet but it is certainly something I'm thinking about. 
> I'm no
> lawyer and am in information overload--but it looks like we could do
> everything humanly possible and still be sued.

Who has been sued for minor or mistaken infractions of new laws that 
barely apply to them? These overly restrictive laws are aimed squarely 
at pornographers, body parts enhancing snake oil sellers and gambling 
operations that blanket spam most heavily. It's an attempt to go after 
those offenders that all of us want to see stopped.

> This means even if we scrub our list and the person opts in after we 
> scrub
> then we're screwed, right?

If it is that difficult to walk the line, nobody will abide by it and 
the law will be deemed unenforceable right away.

> Heck a broken or malformed link
> caused by simple human error could put you in a bigtime jackpot.

The biggest factor in most cases will always be INTENT on the part of 
the list manager or owner. Mistakes are not often pursued. When you 
goof and fix that goof once it is pointed out - you are not usually 
prosecuted.

This whole thing will probably go away because it is not practical to 
enforce it. Can you imagine the courts loaded with people fighting over 
spam? It won't happen. The first laws passed against spammers were 
completely ineffective. They are getting more and more restrictive to 
catch the serious bad guys and bring real teeth to the laws so that 
cases against the worst offenders can be won.

I predict we'll see a lot more stupid attempts at legislating spam 
before anything is really accomplished. These silly laws will go down 
to legal challenges before long.

Mike Banks Valentine
http://www.publish101.com