Michigan and Utah
Child Protection Email Address Registries and Laws

Did you miss our Seminar on the new Michigan and Utah Child Protection Email Address Registry Laws?

Do you know everything you need to know about the two new Child Protection Email Address Registry laws? They are very new and very complicated, so chances are that you don't, especially if you missed ISIPP's seminar about how to comply with them. Now you can get the MP3 audio and written transcript of our seminar, including the participant Q&A section with questions from email senders just like you, along with all of the seminar materials and everything you need to know about the new Michigan and Utah Child Protection Email Address Registry laws, and how to comply with them, for only $59.95!    Order Now

The IADB has already addressed this situation, and provides a way for email senders to put receivers on notice that they are complying with the new child protection email address registry laws.

NEWS COVERAGE OF NEW REGISTRY LAWS:

 Michigan Press Release  MarketingSherpa  ClickZ  Forbes  CNET  NewsTarget

On July 1st of 2005, new child protection email address registry laws will become effective in the states of Michigan and Utah.

MI Registry Homepage   MI Compliance Requirements   MI Technical Compliance Specs

UT Registry Homepage   UT Compliance

In both instances, generally, the laws allow individuals to register email addresses either belonging to (under the control of) minors, or to which minors have access. "Minors" here is generally understood to mean the generally accepted definition of 'minors', i.e. people under the age of 18 years.

In addition, schools and other institutions and organizations whose primary mission is providing services to minors may register their entire domains.

Who is Affected:

Both Michigan's and Utah's laws prohibit an email marketer from sending email to any email address or domain on the registry, even if the email is otherwise solicited, if the email contains material or links to material which is otherwise illegal to provide to minors.

Illegal materials include gambling, pornography, alcohol, tobacco, and both illegal and prescription drugs.

Email marketers who send unpermitted messages to email addresses or domains on the child protection registries in Michigan and Utah face stiff penalties including prison and fines.

How to Comply:

To avoid running afoul of these new laws, email marketers have two choices:

1. They can ensure that they never send any email containing unpermitted materials, links to unpermitted materials, or even links to sites which have information about the unpermitted materials; or
2. They can match their mailing lists against the email registries maintained by Michigan and Utah, on a monthly basis. There is a fee associated with this list matching. Email lists are provided to the state in an encrypted fashion, and the email address registry is also encrypted.

Why You Should Care:

Whether you agree with these new laws or not - and regardless of how you feel about them - they will be in effect in only a few short days. They may be challenged for their constitutionality eventually, but unless you want to be the one funding that challenge by defending because you violated the law, you need to care.

To be very clear, any email marketer or other commercial sender who sends even one message to an email address listed on either the Michigan or Utah child protection email address registries is strictly liable under the laws if the primary purpose of that message is to advertise or link to a message containing unpermitted content.

These new laws will affect nearly every commercial email marketer in the United States, and even those outside of the United States who maintain some physical presence in the United States.

*The IADB provides a way for email senders to put receivers on notice that they are complying with the new child protection email address registry laws. For more information about the IADB click here