Unwanted mail or "Junk mail" as its affectionately known has been part of our lives for many years. Credit card offers, sweepstakes, catalogues -- we love it, we hate it, we throw it into the trash or the recycle pile. And, yes, of course there are laws that regulate it. "Spam" is simply the Internet version of "junk mail." So why is it perceived as being so much worse?

For one thing, unlike junk mail which costs mailers huge amounts of money, spam costs its senders virtually nothing. And yet, we all pay the bill in higher ISP rates, and, of course, time weeding through mail to find the emails we actually need and want to read. Another problem lies in the appropriateness of mail that is sent. I don't know about you, but I had a tough time explaining a few choice emails to my thirteen year old son who was looking over my shoulder.

One of the things I learned the hard way was not to respond to "remove me from your list" links. It often works just the opposite way -- inviting in tons more unwanted email. And the very worst of all - The Trojan Horse attack -- when a spammer uses your email address to send out a spam mailing. It happened to me not long ago. I was blocked from connecting to AOL and, once I got reconnected, kept getting emails and instant messages from people I did not know asking me why I had spammed them. Ouch!

I read somewhere that a typical spammer can send as many as 100,000 messages a day. Multiply that and then consider that the Internet is still only in its infancy. Translation: Nightmare On Spam Street! Federal regulation of spam was only a matter of time.

On November 21, 2003 -- just a little more than 2 weeks ago -- The United States House of Representatives passed a bill dubbed as the "CAN-SPAM" Bill. Its formal title is "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003. The bill still has to be signed by President Bush and will go into effect on January 1, 2004. You can read a copy of the actual bill in all its politically documented glory by clicking on: http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html

Or, you can stay right here for a quick summary. :-)

The CAN-SPAM Bill has no less than 17 definitions of terms relating to sending and receiving email. What we know as "Opting In" is termed "Affirmative Confirmation" which makes the practice of negative opt-in questionable. In legalese: You (the recipient) must "expressly consent to receive the message in response to a clear and conspicuous request or at the recipient's own initiative." In plain English: NO MORE SIMPLE CHECK/UNCHECK BOXES!

CAN-SPAM defines a "Commercial Electronic Mail Message" as an advertisement or product/service promotion that is operated for commercial purposes. It excludes account statements, change of status, product updates and upgrades, warranty information, safety or security information, subscriptions and memberships.

Penalties for violation range from 1 year in jail plus fines for the smaller spammer to 5 years in jail for repeat offenders. To avoid spamming, here's are your rules:

You must not disguise the mail header (digital path) ... use a false or misleading "From" line ... use a deceptive "Subject" line. What your email must include is a clear identification that the message is an advertisement ... a valid epostal address ... a clear and "conspicuous" notice that lets the recipient opt-out, and a return address or automated way to opt-out. The opt-out mechanism mechanism has to be good for 30 days and the sender has 10 days to honor the opt-out request.

There are fines designated for harvesting (collecting Internet addresses) or randomly using a computer program to randomly generate them and, also, further additions to the CAN-SPAM Act on the horizon. But will any or all of this be enforceable? What can be done about mail that comes from outside of the United States? Is there parallel legislation in Canada, the UK or any other countries?

Be sure to tune in to ProfiSpace for further updates. As for right here and now, as an Internet Marketer, what must you do to protect yourself, with both incoming and outgoing email? Here are some suggestions:

To stop the volume of spam in your own mailbox, don't use your personal email address to register at sites you are not familiar with or sign up for a newsletter you don't know enough about to trust yet. If you don't have one already, sign up for a free email account -- most of them have spam filters that will help with weeding process. Outlook Express, Netscape and other popular email programs do have filters or message rules that you can use to send unwanted mail to the trash. The catch 22 with filters is that you risk losing the mail you do want. But you can set filters to catch email as well as eliminate it.

As you undoubtedly know, there is spam filtering software available free of charge as well as for purchase. In next week's article, we'll get into more specifics on those. As for the mail you send out, here are some of the top known keywords most commonly associated with spam used in the Internet marketing arena (many of these words will not surprise you, but others are totally baffling):

free ... make money ... money-making ... online business ... sales ... bargain ... special invitation ...ecommerce ... your website ... license ... reward offered ... cheapest ... click here ... just released ... information you requested ... reward offered ... venture capital ... exciting ... enhance/enhanced ... debt ... increase sales ... tired of ... unbelievable ... great price ... saw your site ... merchant account ... best prices ... affordable ... pre-approved ... credit card ... guaranteed ... unlimited income ... act now ... paying too much ... ticket(s) ... congratulations ... home business ... fantastic business ... opportunity ... win/win a/winner ... winner confirmation ...market ... e-mail marketing ... homeowner ...

And my pick of the day: dear friend.

Be sure to watch your words and, if any of this makes you a little nervous, you're certainly not alone. But let's keep it all in the proper perspective. I have heard about a number of people who are so afraid of all this, that they are going as far as quitting Internet marketing. With all due respect, I think that's going a bit too far. Business offline is regulated and, certainly, that hasn't shut commerce down. The Internet is growing and that is good for us all. If you have good intentions and work to follow the rules, you have little to worry about.

In next week's article, we'll have a wrap up on spam. So, if you have any on the subject, dear friends, now is the time to send them in.

Oh nooooooooo -- dear friends -- I just spammed you. Anybody know a good lawyer? :-)

Phyllis Schwartz is a longtime copywriter with a career background in Direct Mail and Promotional Advertising. Whether you need a sales letter for your home page, keyword optimized web content, articles, emails or direct mail copy, Phyllis is the one to call. For a full menu of copywriting services go to BetterCopywriting.com. This article may be reprinted with the requirement that it be re-published in it's original form with the attached resource box to be included.