Legal Definitions - CAN-SPAM Act of 2003: Problematic Spamming Techniques

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 is a law that regulates commercial email messages and prohibits certain spamming techniques. Section 5(b) of the Act identifies four problematic techniques that are subject to enhanced legal penalties:

1. Address Harvesting: This is when spammers use an automatic program or process to collect email addresses from a website or online service that does not share its users' emails. For example, a spammer might use a program to scrape email addresses from a social media site.
2. Dictionary Attacks: This is when spammers send messages to a series of automatically generated email addresses (such as john1@example.com, john2@example.com, john3@example.com) in the hope that some of them will belong to real people. For example, a spammer might use a program to generate email addresses based on common names and send spam to all of them.
3. Automated creation of multiple email accounts: This is when spammers create multiple email accounts for the purpose of sending spam. For example, a spammer might use a program to create hundreds of email accounts and use them to send spam messages.
4. Unauthorized access to another computer: This is when spammers hijack another person's computer and use it to send spam messages that violate the CAN-SPAM Act. For example, a spammer might use malware to take control of someone's computer and use it to send spam without the owner's knowledge.

The CAN-SPAM Act also gives the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the power to identify additional problematic spamming techniques through its rulemaking process.

These examples illustrate how spammers use various techniques to collect email addresses and send spam messages. These techniques are prohibited by the CAN-SPAM Act because they can be harmful to individuals and businesses that receive unwanted and unsolicited emails. By regulating these practices, the Act aims to reduce the amount of spam that people receive and protect their privacy and security.