Look before you leap-into using some traffic generating system

There are a lot of traffic generating tools being promoted out there and they can look tempting.  The truth is that the large majority of these tools are spam generators and using them can make you a criminal.  Spam is against the law.  Look up the Can Spam Act of 2003 if you don’t believe me.  It started with email.  You cannot send unsolicited commercial emails to anyone without express (written) permission.  The exception to this would be if someone you know and have a relationship with expressed interest or a real leads list.  Simply collecting email addresses is not a real leads list.  You can report unsolicited e-mail by fowarding it to spam@uce.gov.

Since the Can Spam Act was first passed it has been expanded.  You cannot send recorded commercial messages by phone(Landline or cellphone) without express written permission from the recipient.  The National Do Not Call Registry has a very simple online reporting process.  If you dial 100 numbers with your autodialler and you do not have that permission that is 100 reports that can be generated on you for spam.

Two more forms of spam that are getting out of hand is SPIM, spam by Instant Messenger (for example, Yahoo etc), and SPIT Spam over Internet Telephony(VOIP).  The Can Spam act has been interpreted to cover both of these also.

And then there is M-Spam.  This is spamming by Text message.  Not only is this type of spam inconvenient it is also costly to the recipient.  Unless someone has unlimited texting, the recipients will have to pay fees for these spam messages that you are sending out to them.

Before you jump on that tool, be it an autodialler,  or software designed to harest and collect contact info from Instant messaging services such as Skype, do your homework.  The person promoting it is not going to list all the laws you will be breaking or the fines you may have to pay.  Look for yourself because those fines are going to fall on your head, not theirs.

If you don’t think Spam is a problem take a look at this table available on Wikipedia  which shows how many spam messages are generated each year.  Yes that is Trillions with a T!

 A 2009 Cisco Systems report lists the origin of spam by country as follows:^[10]

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Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider This is an excellent post and after reading this people can not come crying that they got into trouble. Our "Friend" (please note the inverted commas and don't take the word friend literally) advertising the latest Skype spamming tool should note that Skype is in actual fact covered by both SPIM and SPIT, which he is failing to tell you about in his ad there is a lot of food for thought in this article and I would say ignore it at your own peril. they may not get you today but your turn will come. Apr 6th 2011 09:13

Paul Hines   LiveGood Health And Wellness Great post, I couldn't imagine getting slapped by Google and getting sent to the sandbox, can you? Yikes. Apr 6th 2011 09:20

Fred Mugone   Health, Wellness, e-Business As always, excellent early warnings from Cheryl. This post will, I am sure, help a lot of members of Apsense avoid leaping into "traffic forests" that are full of "hyenas" Apr 6th 2011 09:21

Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance Especially if it comes to me. Every night I go through my cell phone and report ALL spam recordings to the DNCR. I haven't given anyone written permission to send me spam. Apr 6th 2011 09:21

Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance I hope members read this and take heed. I don't spam others, I don't expect to be spammed. Apr 6th 2011 09:23

Paul Hines   LiveGood Health And Wellness Some of the weasels get around that when they find your number online and call it a business line. Apr 6th 2011 09:24

Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance yes but that loophole was closed unless they are actually speaking to you. All unsolicited recorded messages are considered spam Apr 6th 2011 09:26

Paul Nulty   Promoter, Coach & Web Xplorer Great Post and thanks for the Heads up and keeping us updated on what could be damaging.... if we act with out caution Apr 6th 2011 10:00

Cindy Bolley   HHCTB? What great information Cheryl Thanks for posting This should be a must read by all! Cindy Apr 6th 2011 10:09

Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance A very good resource for any marketer (Online or offline) is the Federal Trade Commission. By taking a little time going through the business info there we can keep ourselves out of a lot of trouble. Apr 6th 2011 10:10

Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider The trouble is Cheryl that the none Americans think they are safe to do what they want and that the FTC, CAN SPAM ACT and so on do not apply to them. The information that I was given is that if you involve just 1 American citizen then the American laws (such as those laid down by the FTC, SEC, and so on) Apply. I will stand corrected by Cheryl if my information is out of date or wrong. Apr 6th 2011 11:04

Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance Since APSense servers are located in the US, I would take that as ALL US laws applying. Even if it is not covered by Federal Laws each state has laws you must conform to also if you do business in those states. In other words if you do business in Kentucky Alabama and Texas you would also be subject to the laws of those states. Just like with Identity theft each state can and does make it's own laws covering spam. The government(Federal, state and local)is working very hard to legislate spammers and scammers out of business. Apr 6th 2011 11:10

Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance Oh and I forgot to add that many nations are now signing reciprocal agreements to honor each other's laws. Apr 6th 2011 11:11

Paul Hines   LiveGood Health And Wellness About time, the weasels are going down. Apr 6th 2011 13:06

Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance I agree Paul, they have been a blight for far too long. Apr 6th 2011 13:25

Livia Boicu   music great post! Apr 6th 2011 15:27

Selya Rollins   Creative Imagery The legal pitfalls of traffic and leads is still a major issue for a lot of marketers, thanks Cheryl for your timely advice. Apr 6th 2011 19:31

Simon Harris    Thanks poster, excellent content and well worth reading! Apr 6th 2011 20:04

Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance You're welcome. hopefully it will keep someone out of hot water Apr 6th 2011 20:54

Burte B.   X- Gen Distributors:Web Designer I agree fully.awesme idea .is it possible that u can organise me refs nd il pay u directly? Apr 6th 2011 22:52

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