Michigan and Utah’s new spam e-mail child-protection laws will have a serious effect on many companies who use e-mail. I’m not a lawyer, but It could even effect non-profit organizations, although it appears they are less likely to get hauled into court.
Because the law is about protecting children rather than eliminating spam, the lawmakers made it tougher for businesses and organizations to comply.
Here’s a great quote from the article about which mailers are probably safe:
"If you mail content that you control such as your own email newsletter or sales alerts, and the links all go back to sites where you also control content, and you’re not on the even slightly-illegal list, then you’re probably safe."
On the other hand:
If you send out messages that link to Web sites (even common news sites and portals) that then contain ads for things that minors can’t buy, you may not be safe. Example - you link to iVillage and the page has an ad for a credit card offer or a new lite beer or a matchmaking service… you could be breaking the law because your email directly led a minor to a Web page containing forbidden content.
It’s pretty ugly.