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Spam Laws Worldwide: SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT, CAN-SPAM's helpful pornographic labeling
Posted by Rebecca Bolin on Thursday, April 15 @ 14:54:54 EDT Spam
CAN-SPAM called for recommendations about labeling pornographic spam from the FTC, and this labeling requirement will become the law of the land, pre-empting state labeling requirements. Four months later, the FTC has decided on a label: "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT," a modification on the previously proposed gem, "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT-CONTENT."

This beast of a label shows the CAN-SPAM or at least the FTC intent of flagging pornographic spam is not to allow spam filters to catch it; for that, the standard "ADLT" or even "SX11YXP1C7" could have sufficed. This label is instead intended to actually be read by people; kids are supposed to not read the messages which say this, and sensitive adults are supposed to be alerted by this label and delete them. Um, couldn't a filter (any filter) do that better? Why not just make a short filter label? The FTC, in a paternalistic mode perhaps inspired by the Janet Jackson fallout, intends the label to act as "the electronic equivilant of a 'brown paper wrapper.'"

Only no one knows what has to be labeled (see Susan Crawford). Oh, and this paper label is click-through, bans the "electronic equivilant" of a plastic cover over the Cosmopolitan magazines, and only obstructs half of the vulgar cover.

 
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The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.

So does that do in the subject line or a special X header? (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Friday, April 16 @ 03:02:16 EDT
I mean if it's in the contents of the message there isn't much point. But that's a lot to put in a subject line. The only other possibility is an X header but that would require special handling by mail clients and seems too slick/technical for something mandated by Congress.


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Re: SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT, CAN-SPAM's helpful pornographic labeling (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Sunday, April 25 @ 10:03:49 EDT
Actually, the FTC appears to have gone to a lot of effort to ensure that the label is suitable for filtering on. The punctuation (and particularly the hyphen) is there to ensure that filters won't catch innocent subject lines.

-roy


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