New Federal Anti-Spam Legislation Enacted

By Mary J. Hildebrand, P.C. and Jacqueline Klosek

On December 16, 2003 President Bush signed the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 into force (the "CAN SPAM Act"). This legislation – fully titled, the "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003" – is the first federal legislation to regulate the use of unsolicited commercial e-mail ("UCE" or "spam") in the United States. The legislation, which became effective on January 1, 2004, does not place an outright ban on UCE. It does, however, outline a series of practices that must be followed when sending UCE.

One of the most notable aspects of the new law is that it preempts most state laws regarding UCE.