Legal Definitions - CAN-SPAM Act of 2003: Legislative Context and Background

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 is a law passed by the United States Congress to address the problem of spam email. The law provides a statement of Congressional Findings, which explains why Congress felt it was necessary to pass the law.

• Spam email is a problem because it can be used to deceive people and steal their personal information.
• Some spam emails are sent by people who want to sell products or services, but they use deceptive tactics to get people to open the emails.
• Spam emails can be very annoying and time-consuming to deal with, especially if you receive a lot of them.

These examples illustrate some of the reasons why Congress felt it was necessary to pass the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. The law was designed to address the problem of spam email by requiring senders to provide certain information in their emails, such as a valid physical address and a way for recipients to opt-out of receiving future emails. The law also prohibits certain deceptive practices, such as using misleading subject lines or disguising the source of the email.