Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the way you conduct your internet business, more specifically your marketing, is about to change.

The new CAN-SPAM law signed by President Bush on December 16th, 2003 goes into effective tomorrow, January 1st, 2004.

If you've been thinking the new law doesn't apply to you - think again. Any and all business-related email comes under this new law so listen up and make sure you know how it applies to you and your business.

My personal interpretation is this law affects any email (exclusive of personal email) that is directed to a U.S. resident. Now that may sound a bit scary but really it's not.

You should understand that all promotional email you send, whether through your ezine in the form of classified ads, solo ads (for your own products or for your clients), etc. as well as messages you send via your autoresponder, will require you to implement these changes.

In simple terms, the new CAN-SPAM law is hoping to cut back on the amount of unsolicted commercial email being bandied about the internet. At the same time you will be required to identify yourself which means including a physical address. You will also be required to provide a clear, simple way for people to opt out of receiving future messages.

Most responsible publishers already conduct their business this way - with the possible exception that they aren't currently including a physical address in their mailings.

The spammers are the main focus and they always have been. They utilize tactics such as forged headers and phony email addresses to send their email. Innocent publishers and marketers are being caught in the middle.

I've had to suspend all my current autoresponder messages because all the addresses have been harvested. This illegal harvesting of email addresses was the main reason I chose to get out of email delivery for KIT -- it just wasn't worth the time it was costing me to keep my list clean.

Personally, I think the spam will get much worse before it will get better. When the financial penalties start kicking in, perhaps we will see an improvement.

John Glube of Straight Talk - An Open Letter, wrote the The Federal Regulators Are Coming To Town. I am grateful to John for his diligence in getting to the heart of the matter. Take the time to read this article. It's been well researched and he's broken the article into sections for easier reading. Bookmark it and read it again.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year. Have fun and be safe.

Lois publishes KIT (Keeping In Touch) a weekly ezine with straight forward articles, helpful hints and suggestions, interaction with subscribers and more. Easy to subscribe: KIT Helping you build a successful home-based business one step at a time Home4Success