New E-Mail Registries Could Hurt E-Zines

(Direct Newsline) Warning, e-zine publishers: Depending on your content, you can get in trouble for mailing to kids in Michigan and Utah.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has signed a reworked version of the state’s children’s protection registry act, putting Michigan’s controversial child protection e-mail address registry into effect immediately, according to officials.

Granholm signed the law–dubbed Public Act 206—creating Michigan’s registry despite a letter published by the Federal Trade Commission recently that said such registries not only are unlikely to protect minors from pornography spam, but that they may actually result in more of it.

Granholm’s press secretary said the governor considered the FTC’s letter, but that it didn’t change her position.

Under Michigan’s child protection act, parents and guardians can register the e-mail addresses and other “contact points,” such as cell phone numbers, used by minors. Marketers are then prohibited from sending addresses on the registry content relating to anything it is illegal for minors to view or buy, such as pornography and gambling services.

Marketers who want to send e-mail containing material that may be inappropriate for minors are supposed to scrub their lists against the registry once per month. A similar registry has been active in Utah since August.

This has already had a chilling effect on some e-mail marketers. For example, Fox News analyst Wendy McElroy in July stopped publishing her ifeminists.net e-mail newsletter—which often included links to commentary on issues such as abortion and gay rights—fearing that political enemies would use the registries to shut her up.

“I won’t take that risk,” she said in an announcement to her readers. “Nor will I turn over addresses to the government, let alone pay for the privilege.”

While state officials claim the registries aren’t aimed at so-called mainstream marketers, both Utah and Michigan’s registry laws contain provisions allowing individuals can sue. As a result, a disgruntled parent can sue for whatever he or she deems to be a violation of the registry no matter how officials intended it to be used. Michigan’s law allows individuals to sue for $5,000 for each message received up to $250,000.

In July, Michigan passed an almost identical law to the one Granholm signed yesterday, but it contained a typographical error that set a ceiling on the price for maintaining the registry that was lower then Michigan planned to charge. Public Act 206 corrected that typo.

Marketers will reportedly be charged $7 per thousand e-mail addresses checked to use Michigan’s registry. Utah charges $5 per thousand addresses. Start-up company Unspam LLC of Park City, UT, runs both registries.