Stay out of trouble with the California no-UCE law.

California bans all spam e-mail. California took a tough stand against spam e-mail on Wednesday after Governor Gray Davis signed a law prohibiting anyone from sending unsolicited commercial e-mail advertisements to a California e-mail address. [InfoWorld: Top News]

Read the article. This law requires opt-in and opt-out. Best to be on the safe side and only add someone to your opt-in list if you have documentation: name, email address, IP address at a minimum. Be sure you put an explicit opt-out address at the bottom of each email and attend to your opt-outs on a daily basis if not "as occurring." The reason for this, of course, is that people forget who they opted in with and if the Attorney General comes calling you want to be able to show that you are running right and are not spamming.

I used to send a follow-up email to people who contacted me by phone, but I recently changed my process in anticipation of more of these laws. Now I give them, on the phone, a URL where they can go for details of my offer and where they are invited to opt in. I get the IP addresses out of the log.

If I can get any more details, I will post them here. I am not a lawyer, of course, so you will want to check all of this out with your attorney. Don't rely on my advice -- these are just ideas for you to consider and to get competent counsel on.

8:56:37 PM    

Learn to use your weblog for business.

Weblog Workshop by BloggingWorks. There are still a few spots left for the Friday, October 3rd Chicago workshop. Sign up now! "Business blogs are taking off. Are you up to speed? Learn how your business can harness the power of weblogs to improve communication and efficiency at this hands-on workshop." [xBlog: The visual thinking weblog | XPLANE]

12:53:18 PM    

More on the Eolas v. Microsoft matter and its impact on the Web, e-Learning, and Life As We Know It.

Patents: W3C on amber alert. Yesterday the W3C launched a Patent Advisory Group to "study issues ... raised by the court case of Eolas v. Microsoft." The group's FAQ is most interesting for what it does not say. [Jeffrey Zeldman Presents: The Daily Report]

8:57:47 AM