Transcript Message Characteristics

INTERNET ADVERTISING &
PROMO COMM
CLASS 11
Legal & Ethical Issues
Featuring Today ….
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Spamming
Consumer Privacy
Deceptive & Offensive Advertising
Copy Right Issues
Spamming (Junk or unsolicited
commercial e-mail)
• “indiscriminately sending large amount of
unsolicited e-mail meant to promote a product
or services”
• various industry guidelines (such as the one by
IAB), and statewide regulation failed to curve
the use of e-mail spamming
• The effectiveness of the federal regulation, for
the most part, remains to be seen.
• In early 2000s, spamming became outlawed in
over 30 states in the US
• US Federal spamming law -- Reduction in
Distribution of Spam Act of 2003; Can-Spam Act
of 2004
• No global regulation is available
• To summarize statewide anti-spam laws in the
past;
– Subject lines should begin with”ADV” and
“ADV:ADLT” for adult content
– A toll-free telephone number or a valid return address
is required so that recipients can opt out
Statewide anti-spam laws (continued)
– some states proposed no-spam registry (a list of
people who do register not to receive unsolicited
email); unsolicited senders are required to update
their lists within 30 days of the start of every calendar
year
– In California, it is unlawful to send unsolicited e-mail
ads without opt-in or a verifiable business
relationship
– consumers/individuals are granted appropriate right of
action.
Federal legislation:
Reduction in Distribution of Spam Act, 2003
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requires e-mail marketers to disclose their online
and physical addresses,
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bans them from using false or misleading header
information,
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requires them to label pornographic e-mail as such,
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requires them to comply with consumer requests to
be removed from mailing lists.
Federal legislation:
Reduction in Distribution of Spam Act of 2003
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prohibits them from harvesting e-mail addresses
from sources that promise not to resell customer
information.
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does not permit lawsuits to be brought by
individuals or through class action suits.
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allows marketers to evade provisions if they have a
“commercial relationship” with consumers.
Federal legislation:
Can-Spam Act of 2004
(Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited
Pornography and Marketing Act)
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Bans false or misleading header information
(from, to, routing-domain, email address)
Prohibits deceptive subject lines
Requires that your email give recipients an opt-out
method
Requires that commercial email be identified as an
advertisement and include the sender’s valid
physical postal address
Penalties: fines up to $11,000; subject to deceptive
advertising laws
Federal legislation:
Can-Spam Act of 2004 (continues..)
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Additional fines to commercial emailers that
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Harvest email addresses from Web sites or Web
services where such a practice is prohibited
Generate email addresses using a “dictionary
attack”
Relay emails through a computer or network
without permission
Etc.
– Read more about this at
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/can
spam.htm
Federal legislation:
Did it work?
– Read more about legal issues at
cnet.com or at other online sources
Problems & Challenges in Regulating Spam
Jurisdiction Problems:
• Who has the jurisdiction over spammers if they come
from outside a country?
• Obtaining jurisdiction over them for enforcement of
the law will be difficult, if not impossible.
• Global nature of the medium calls for global scale
solution to this problem.
Problems & Challenges in Regulating Spam
Implementation Challenges:
• Will spammers actually abide by the law? Who will
detect these spammers?
• How effective would the Fed law be?
• Does the fed government have enough resources to
do any more enforcement than are being done now?
• Reduction in Distribution of Spam Act allows
marketers to evade provisions if they have a
“commercial relationship” with consumers. How do
we define “having a commercial relationship”?
Some Thoughts about Possible Solutions
• Close open relay system worldwide
Open relays allow third parties to route their e-mail
through servers of other organizations in order to
disguise the real origin of the e-mail.
• Concerted efforts are necessary to develop
technical solutions
• Develop global measures
e.g., International Consumer Protection
Enforcement Act (ICPEA)
Wireless Spam
The September 2000 guidelines by the Wireless
Advertising Association (WAA)
• Wireless spam -any content sent by or on behalf of
advertisers and marketers to a wireless mobile
device at a time other than when the subscriber
initiates a request
• Do not send wireless push advertising or spam
without explicit subscriber permission (opt-in)
• Confirmed opt-in required
• Subscriber permission (opt-in) is not transferable to
third parties without explicit permission from the
subscriber
• Clear instructions to unsubscribe (opt-out) must be
made readily available and be honored
Consumer Privacy
• To date, most of the regulation from the US
federal government concerns consumer privacy
• Consumer Internet Privacy Protection Act of 2000
makes it illegal to make public personal information
without written consent
• Online Privacy Protection Act of 2001
websites are required to give a ‘clear and
conspicuous’ privacy policy
• Children’s Online Privacy Act: (COPPA) of 2000:
protects children’s privacy by giving parents the tools
to control what information is collected from their
children online
Under the COPPA,
operators of commercial websites and online services
directed to or knowingly collecting personal information
from children under 13 must
• notify parents of their information practices;
• obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting a
child’s personal information;
• give parents a choice as to whether their child’s
information will be disclosed to third parties;
• provide parents access to their child’s information;
• let parents prevent further use of collected information;
• not require a child to provide more information.
Penalties of Non-Compliance:
• orders to cease and desist, with fines up to
$11,000 per violation
• injunctions by federal district courts
• in some instances, refunds to consumers for
actual damages in civil lawsuits
Deceptive and Misleading and Offensive
Claims:
Read article at
www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/dotcom/index.shtm for
more specific information on US’s rules & guides on this
topic
Advertising
a) must tell the truth and not mislead
consumers,
b) claims must be substantiated
• To ensure the truth in advertising, IAB
recommends:
– Disclaimers and disclosures must be clear and
conspicuous and positioned prominently
– Demonstration of the product should be under normal
use.
– Refunds must be made to dissatisfied consumers, if
promised
• For the requirement of substantiated ad claims,
– Advertising agencies or website designers and
catalog marketers are responsible for reviewing the
information used to substantiate ad claims
Examples of Online Advertising Deception
Case #1:
• Mars candy bars, a pop-up ad with “Chocollect”
promotion on August 2003
• “Collect codes for 3,000,000 rewards” … “70
wrappers = Xbox” But the actual reward was %-off of
the Xbox price
• The verdict by the UK’s non-broadcast regulator, the
Advertising Standard Authority (ASA):
• Your verdict??
Examples of Online Advertising Deception
Case #2:
• Dinseyland.com for Disneyland.com, September 4,
2003
• Truth in Domain Names Act of 2003: makes it a crime
to use a misleading Web address to direct children to
pornographic Internet sites
• Domain names that slightly transposed well known
commercial site names are deceptive and illegal
Examples of Online Advertising Deception
Case #3:
• “FCUK Safely”
• Violation of British Code of Advertising, Sales
Promotion & Direct Marketing (the CAP Code)
Case #4:
• 100 percent college funding promised for a fee of
$895; but scholarship information delivered
Copyright Issues
• What is acceptable use? Viewing pages vs.
completely unlimited?
• Difficult area – debates over copyright infringement
vs. acceptable use of online material (information and
artwork) still continue
• Public posting of private e-mail messages is
generally seen as absolutely inappropriate anywhere
• Ask the site administrator if you are in doubt
• To protect your material, make it password-protected
A Few Thoughts on Internet Advertising
Ethics
• The long term cost of damage to a brand’s reputation
may be much greater than the immediate, short-term
gain obtained from an irresponsible, unethical
advertising and marketing communication practice
• Abiding by laws and industry-wide guidelines
concerning the proper use of the Internet as
advertising and marketing communication tool is
critical to ensure that this valuable new marketing
channel remains viable
Resources:
• To be kept up to date on the status of pending legislation, visit
http://thomas.loc.gov, www.iab.net or
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfrhtml_00/Title_16/16cfrv1_
00.html
• To file online fraud complaints, go to the Internet Fraud
Complaint Center (IFCC)
• To learn more about the FTC efforts in the International
Consumer Protection Enforcement Act (ICPEA)
• For general offers and claims, products, and services protecting
consumer’s privacy online and laws enforced by the FTC, visit
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/ruleroad.htm
Resources:
• To lean more about children's advertising, refer to the guidelines
published by The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of
the Council of Better Business Bureaus
• For more information on this act and other Children’s Privacy
issues, visit www.ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/childrens.html
and www.ftc.gov/kidzprivacy