Email and the Law

No Safe Harbour and email marketing

Let's make one thing clear from the start: the dust hasn't settled over the ECJ's decision on Safe Harbour. At the moment there are accepted facts, some things which we can define as probable and others that we have no idea about at all. To make matters a little more complicated, there is a certain … READ MORE »

Life after Safe Harbour

There has been a fair bit on the internet about the ECJ's rejection of Safe Harbour (SA), the agreement between the USA and the EU which sets a catch-all agreement for the transfer of data between the USA and the EAA. There has been little new information of help for email marketing. Some things have … READ MORE »

Problems with Principle 8 and email marketing

The European Court of Justice has decided that the Safe Harbour Scheme (SHS) does not provide adequate protection for data transferred to the USA and therefore it falls outside Principle 8 of the Data Protection Act. In essence the court has recognised that agreements cannot be binding on national governments. The court ruling stated: "legislation … READ MORE »

The end of Safe Harbour for email marketing

Tuesday's finding of the European Court with regards the Safe Harbor Scheme (SHS) no longer being recognised as providing adequate protection for data transferred to the USA gives rise to fundamental concerns for email marketing. On these pages we warned of the risks of sending data to the USA well before the access that NSA … READ MORE »

The validity of endorsement in email marketing

A few weeks ago we mentioned endorsements, pointing out that they were an effective way of generating click throughs and completions and are particularly effective in email marketing. The post was mainly practical but the Committee on Advertising Practice (CAP) has come out with guidance on the matter.  The advice, which is described as for … READ MORE »

CAP Help Note on Testimonials & Endorsements

We covered the practical use of testimonials a few weeks ago, endorsing them, so to speak, as extremely useful in email marketing. Right after publication, the Committee of Advertising Practice produced a Help Note on Testimonials and Endorsements (the Guidelines) which thankfully contain no contradictions of the main thrust of the article.  The Guidelines tend … READ MORE »

The Consumer Rights Act 2015

The Consumer Rights Act (the Act) 2015 will come into force on 1 October this year. Its provisions will probably have a significant effect on those engaged in email marketing, especially with regards to contracts. For some, notably those selling digital content or using it in promotions, it will give rise to training requirements.  The … READ MORE »

Consumer Rights Act 2015, an overview

This article is a brief introduction to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (the Act) which some of those engaged in email marketing suggest is the most important consumer legislation for some years. We will be returning to the Act in detail from time to time. Most of the provisions of the Act will come into … READ MORE »

Cookie monsters threatening email marketing

The heading is not strictly descriptive of this article, something I would argue against in normal circumstances, but I couldn’t let such an opportunity pass. I knew you would realise I was talking about those little ‘tags’ that allow tracking of user activity on websites. Email marketing software depends to a great extent on them. … READ MORE »

Data destruction and email marketing

Email marketing’s dependence on digital information has produced situations where a word in common usage is just not precise enough. Take destroy for instance. One dictionary definition is ‘to ruin completely’. It is not quite that straightforward once we start storing data on computers. The data needs to be legally secure. The Data Protection Act  tells … READ MORE »

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