This anti-spam policy is incorporated by reference in SEMSblast’s end user services agreement posted at www.SEMSblast.com (“EUSA”). All capitalized terms used herein but not otherwise defined shall have the meanings ascribed to them in the EUSA.

 

SEMSblast's Services comprise primarily of a web-based technology platform through which content is delivered once a customer sends such content. While each customer retains SEMSblast to assist with the transmittal of content to its Recipients, SEMSblast does not actually send customer content to Recipients on a customer’s behalf. Each customer is the actual sender of emails. As the sender of emails, each customer is required to comply with the terms and conditions set forth herein and in the EUSA and to comply with all applicable laws.

 

We have a no tolerance spam policy. Your account will be immediately terminated if you send spam and you will be obligated to indemnify SEMSblast against any liabilities, costs and expenses it incurs as a result of such spam. Generally, spam is defined as unsolicited mass email to persons with whom you do not have a business relationship or have not requested (opted-in to) your mailing.

 

Anti-Spam Policy

SEMSblast has a no tolerance spam policy. Customer accounts will be terminated if they send unsolicited email messages. Please report any suspected abuse to support@SEMSblast.com. ISPs and blacklists administrators may also contact us at support@SEMSblast.com. Please forward the complete email in question, including headers. If applicable, please also unsubscribe from the newsletter using the link at the bottom of the email if you no longer wish to receive emails from that sender. We will take the appropriate action against the sender of the email in question.

 

ISP and Blacklist Administrator Relations

SEMSblast has built relationships with many of the leading ISPs and blacklist administrators. These relationships usually involve the sharing of information regarding policies, practices and issues. If you are an ISP, mail administrator or blacklist owner and would like to get in touch with us, please email support@SEMSblast.com.

 

For SEMSblast Customers

Each SEMSblast customer must accept the EUSA prior to using the Services. As part of its agreement, each customer must agree to only send permission-based emails. “Permission-based” means that all Recipients must have opted-in to receive communications from that customer.

 

An opt-in can occur either via a sign-up form on a website, at a point-of-sale sign-up form, or on a physical sign-up sheet. Any opt-in form should include a clear description of what will be sent and how often it will be sent. Purchased lists may not be used within the SEMSblast system, regardless of the source or permission status.

 

As a customer of SEMSblast, you may not:

• • harvest emails from websites
• • purchase lists (whether they are opt-in or not)
• • have a pre-checked field on your subscription form
• • have a subscription form that subscribes users to an unrelated list
• • send out unrelated offers or unrelated content to your newsletter list
• • add an email address into a list without the subscriber’s permission
• • email someone who has requested to be removed from your list
• • utilize a list older than 6 months without reconfirming the Recipients’ subscriptions
•  

You may:

• • send out a regular newsletter to a recipient who has opted-in to receive it
• • send out information and content to Recipients who have requested to receive content on that topic from your organization

 

Policy Enforcement

SEMSblast has a no tolerance spam policy. The strict measures we take to enforce our policy include, but are not limited to:

• • We review and monitor large list imports. This includes a review of the list source, list age, collection methods, and confirmation practices.
• • We utilize an MD5 hash record to screen for characteristics of commonly harvested lists
• • A member of our staff reviews each message sent to more than 5000 Recipients and either will approve or reject it. This threshold is 500 Recipients for clients that have been with us for less than two months.
• • We utilize a content-checking utility to screen and flag any message that contains words common to unsolicited emails.
• • We require each customer to initial the following statement prior to each send: “I certify with my initials that all recipients granted their permission to be sent this message.”
• • A record is saved of every email that is sent through the system.
• • Any customer found to be using SEMSblast for spam will be immediately cut-off from use of the product.
• • We maintain the IP address and date subscribed for every new Recipient.
• • Every email, whether text or HTML, contains a mandatory unsubscribe/opt-out link at the bottom of the message. This unsubscribe link cannot be removed.

 

Procedure for Handling Complaints

We have a no tolerance spam policy. Your account will be immediately terminated if you send spam. Generally, spam is defined as unsolicited mass email to persons with whom you do not have a business relationship or who have not requested (opted-in to) your mailing. The Service may be used only by businesses and organizations in connection with their established list of permission-based opt-in email addresses. We provide the Services only to those who follow our strict anti-spam policy. If you use the Services to send out emails to addresses obtained in any way other than a subscriber opting-in to your list, you may incur a penalty equal to $100 (US) per substantiated incident (i.e. per email) or any greater amount that may be imposed under applicable state, federal or foreign regulations.

 

To determine whether you have sent spam we will:

• • review the content of the message in question
• • review your subscriber list for patterns common to harvested lists
• • review the spam complaint
• • view the records to see when the subscriber was subscribed and their IP address

 

Procedure for Handling False Positive Complaints

We realize that it is possible for those who have subscribed to your mailings to have forgotten that they have subscribed. For this reason, we keep the IP address and date of subscription for all new Recipients. If we receive a complaint from a Recipient for which we have a record of their subscription, and the email sent to them contained the content they subscribed to, then we will notify such Recipient of the date and from which computer they subscribed from and provide a link for that Recipient to unsubscribe from your list.

 

Upon this type of complaint, we will notify you of the complaint, explain the action taken, review your web site, and may suggest changes to the notifications or descriptions you provide when subscribers sign up for your lists.

 

In the case that a subscriber who makes a complaint did not sign up through your site (i.e. was imported into the system) no IP record or date of subscription will be available. In this case, we will investigate the situation, look at the email in question, and if it is determined that you may be sending unsolicited commercial emails, we will immediately disable the sending function on your account and we will immediately contact you by email and/or phone. As soon as we hear from you and are able to verify that the subscriber was indeed an opt-in Recipient, we will remove the sending-block.

 

Transfer of Recipients

Please note that a Recipient subscribing to one of your lists does NOT give you permission to transfer them to other lists or to send them content, even if it is through the same list, that differs from the content the Recipient subscribed to.

 

Procedure for Handling Subpoenas

To request from SEMSblast information about an SEMSblast customer in connection with a civil case, you must serve SEMSblast with a subpoena or court order that is valid and enforceable under Florida law, and must agree to SEMSblast's terms of compensation set forth herein. All civil subpoenas should be directed to the SEMSblast Legal Department. Generally, SEMSblast will not produce any information until approximately three weeks after its receipt of a valid subpoena or court order, unless a formal objection is filed by you or SEMSblast is legally required to do so. SEMSblast charges $100.00 per hour for research (plus additional fees if testimony or deposition is required), $0.25 per page and $22.00 to respond via Federal Express.

 

For more information visit The Coalition Against Unsolicited Email, or contact SEMSblast Customer Support.