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Introduction
Internet
Fundamentals
MAPSSM
Principles
Guidelines
Penalties for
violation of MAPS Principles
Introduction
Mailing
lists have a long and venerable history on the Internet. Mailing lists are
an excellent vehicle for distributing focused, targeted information to an
interested, receptive audience. Consequently, mailing lists have been used
successfully as a highly effective direct marketing tool. Unfortunately,
mailing lists are also vulnerable to misuse through a variety of means. An
all-too-common example is where an individual is force subscribed to a
high number of mailing lists and must take extraordinary measures to be
removed. Also, some marketers misuse mailing lists, often through a lack
of knowledge about longstanding Internet customs and rules, or because
they attempt to apply direct paper mail methodology to the electronic
realm. The guidelines below are intended to assist list administrators in
establishing basic list management procedures that should help them avoid
the most common pitfalls. Good list management also pays off in other ways
such as maintaining a high response rate and reducing costs associated
with complaint handling.
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Internet Fundamentals
Those who
desire to establish responsible list management practices must be aware
that there are certain fundamentals inherent to the structure of the
Internet, and to how the email system functions across the Internet. Among
those that are pertinent to these guidelines are the following:
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Traffic
on the Internet flows by mutual agreement. This is not a taxpayer-funded
highway system. The Internet is a network of networks, interconnected in
myriad ways. Most of the networks that compose the Internet are
privately owned. When an entity connects its system to the Internet it
immediately becomes dependent on others to see to it that its traffic
reaches its destination. Those others in turn have a responsibility to
their owners or shareholders to maintiain their networks and keep
traffic flowing smoothly. This fact gives network and system owners and
operators considerable say over the traffic they allow to pass over
their networks.
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Internet
entities are responsible for their own actions. Traffic flows from one
network to another because of such things as peering agreements, where
two networks agree to carry one another's traffic. The Internet is made
up of many interconnected peers; it is not only expected but necessary
that those peers, and all those systems connecting to them, act
responsibly. The larger the system, and the more traffic it desires to
transit the network, the greater the expectations and responsibilities
incumbent upon it.
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The
recipient subsidizes the cost of delivery. This is not a postal mail or
parcel system, where the sender pays the full cost of delivery. Every
email box belongs to an individual, a group, an organization, perhaps a
corporation; in any event, its existence is most often paid for by
someone besides the sender of a message. This fact gives the recipient
consiberable say over what will be accepted for delivery, and it is why
MAPS emphasizes that all communications must be consensual.
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MAPSSM Principles
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Guidelines
The
following guidelines are offered as a statement of Internet standards and
best current practices for proper mailing list management.
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Permission of new subscribers must be fully verified before
mailings commence. This is usually accomplished by means of an email
message sent to the subscriber to which s/he must reply, or containing a
URL which s/he must visit, in order to complete the subscription.
However it is implemented, a fundamental requirement of all lists is for
verification of all new subscriptions.
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There
must be a simple method to terminate a subscription. Mailing list
administrators must provide a simple method for subscribers to terminate
their subscriptions, and administrators should provide clear and
effective instructions for unsubscribing from a mailing list. Mailings
from a list must cease promptly once a subscription is terminated.
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There
should be alternative methods for terminating a subscription. Mailing
list administrators should make an "out of band" procedure (e.g., an
email address to which messages may be sent for further contact via
email or telephone) available for those who wish to terminate their
mailing list subscriptions but are unable or unwilling to follow
standard automated procedures.
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Undeliverable addresses must be removed from future mailings.
Mailing list administrators must ensure that the impact of their
mailings on the networks and hosts of others is minimized. One of the
ways this is accomplished is through pruning invalid or undeliverable
addresses.
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Mail
volume must take recipient systems into account. List administrators
must take steps to ensure that mailings do not overwhelm less robust
hosts or networks. For example, if the mailing list has a great number
of addresses within a particular domain, the list administrator should
contact the administrator for that domain to discuss mail volume issues.
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Steps
must be taken to prevent use of a mailing list for abusive purposes. The
sad fact is that mailing lists are used by third parties as tools of
revenge and malice. Mailing list administrators must take adequate steps
to ensure that their lists cannot be used for these purposes. For
example, administrators can maintain a "suppression list" of email
addresses from which all subscription requests are rejected. Addresses
would be added to the suppression list upon request by the parties
entitled to use the addresses at issue. The purpose of the suppression
list would be to prevent forged subscription of addresses by
unauthorized third parties. Such suppression lists should also give
properly authorized domain administrators the option to suppress all
mailings to the domains for which they are responsible.
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Terms and
conditions of address use must be fully disclosed. Mailing list
administrators must make adequate disclosures about how subscriber
addresses will be used, including whether or not addresses are subject
to sale or trade with other parties. Also, conditions of use should
be visible and obvious to the potential subscriber. For example, two
lines buried deep within a license agreement do not constitute adequate
disclosure.
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Acquired
lists must be used for their original purpose. Those who are acquiring
fully verified opt-in lists must examine the terms and conditions under
which the addresses were originally compiled and determine that all
recipients have in fact opted-in to the type mailing list the buyer
intends to operate.
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The
nature and frequency of mailings should be fully disclosed. List
administrators should make adequate disclosures about the nature of
their mailing lists, including the subject matter of the lists and
anticipated frequency of messages. A substantive change in the frequency of mailings, or in the size
of each message, may constitute a new and separate mailing list
requiring a separate subscription.
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One
subscription, one list. Addresses should not be added to other lists
without fully verified consent of the address owner. It should never be
assumed that subscribers to a list about "abc"
want to be added
to another "abc"
list, let alone a list about
"xyz". A
notification about the new mailing list may be appropriate on the
existing mailing list, but existing subscribers should never be
subscribed automatically to the new list.
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Penalties for violation of MAPS
Principles
Our datacenter has ZERO tolerance for
spamming. Incase either you or your clients are responsible are reported
to be spamming then the, unless proved otherwise within 24 hours:
1)
The concerned website may be deleted without any warning.
2) The
particular domain name will be listed as a spammer with various websites
by our datacenter which may cause it to be blocked from many search
engines.
Please support us against our fight against spamming
and keep Internet clean and productive
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