What are the rules about 'spam' now?

I have a list of about 250,000 people who joined my free site a couple of years ago and who agreed to receive a e-newsletter. (double confirmations)

They received the newsletter once a week for about a year with hardly any complaints, but then I got ill and we stopped sending it.

Would e-mailing these people count as spam now? I know there are new laws but I don't really understand them.

I don't want to go to prison! :) On the other hand, I could really use the cash. That list used to make me a fortune.

I read something about having to put a postal address at the bottom. That's ok with me. Is there anything else I need to do to be legal?

Who knows about this stuff?

Hey,

I don't know about spam, but I'm just wondering if my old Cash Addicts WM ID and what-not still works or do I need to apply for a new one.

Thanks
Dzinerbear

You need a new one. Hit me up on ICQ and I'll get you set up. :)

Only tried e-mail marketing once, and it did generate good revenue. Problem is multiple - not just legal definition of "spam" (and you can bet in the US that gay sex e-mail is going to get special attention) - but also the grief from Spamcop and friends who can blacklist your smtp server if someone complains. These guys do such a great job protecting the internet from spam I only get 250-500 a day. Meanwhile, legitimate people are getting screwed by the rules. It only takes "one complaint" before the self-appointed gods of anti-spam descend on you.

-doug

I say no. You need to send out an intial email with an option to cancel that says your turning the list back on. I think that is more then fair. Opt in is good forever until they opt-out

As long as you dont show 'nudity' (i beleive) you can pretty much still get away with 'spam'.

However, in the instance you have described, the subscribers (lets not forget thats what these people are) have agreed to receive mail from you, if you said you would mail them a specific amount each month and it stoped completely then i would send an opt out mailer first however, if you didnt do say that, to me they would still be fair game, just make sure you include a working removal link in each mail you send them :)

Regards,

Lee

Thanks for the advice guys.

I love this board - so friendly and helpful!! :)

Does anyone know any good software for cleaning a list? I know a good proportion of these addresses are going to be dead after a year.