Wireless Strings Attached

The Federal CAN-SPAM Act has regulated the sending of

“commercial” e-mail messages since 2003. Basically, the act requires that commercial messages – those being sent primarily to promote the purchase of a good or service – must include the physical address of the sender and include an “opt-out” for recipients to tell the sender that he or she does not wish to receive further e-mail messages from that sender.

Unlike the Do-Not-Call regulations, the CAN-SPAM Act did not contain any sort of a list that had to be checked before sending messages.

Until now.

As of March 9, 2005, all senders of commercial e-mails must check their e-mail lists against a list of wireless domains maintained by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). See the end of this article for directions for finding a link to that Web site from the PAR Web site.

Domain names are the part of an e-mail address that follow the “at” sign. For example, in the address donotcall@parealtor.org, the domain name is “parealtor.org.” Wireless domains are those registered for use by providers of wireless messaging technology, and, they are used only as domain names for wireless devices.

Messages sent to a wireless domain are now classified as a “mobile service commercial messages” (“MSCM”). Senders may send MSCM to a recipient only if the recipient has provided “express prior authorization.” This means that senders must check their e-mail lists at least once a month to determine if any recipients are using wireless domains, and if so, must obtain oral or (preferably) written authorization to send messages to those addresses. In the alternative, the sender can block those addresses from receiving e-mail.

From a practical standpoint, it is unlikely that many consumers would use a wireless domain as their primary e-mail address. Most are more likely to have mail forwarded from a “standard” e-mail account to their wireless device instead. Since the rules don’t apply to forwarded messages, this would not affect the sender.

As a simple means of protection, members should screen e-mail addresses before adding them to your database. If you are given an address that looks like a wireless domain, you might want to ask for another address instead. Simply put, if you don’t allow wireless domains into your database, you won’t risk sending a message in violation of the rules.

For additional information on Do-Not-Call regulations and the CAN-SPAM Act, just go to the IssuesResourceCenterat www.parealtor.org and access the Do-Not-Call / CAN-SPAM Resources page. The page contains a number of summaries and explanations provided by NAR and PAR, sample office policies, a link to DNCQuickcheck, and a link to the FCC Wireless Domain list discussed above.

If you have questions not answered by information on the Web site, you can send them to donotcall@parealtor.org.