| What is a Harvested Email Address? |
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Question: What is the definition of a "harvested" email address, and what are the best practices and laws that govern how they should and should not be used in email marketing?
Most often harvested email address lists are created by spammers purchasing from or trading lists of email addresses with other spammers. Another common method is the use of special software known as "harvesting bots" or "harvesters", which spider Web pages, postings on Usenet, mailing list archives and other online sources to obtain email addresses from public data. An additional method of email address harvesting is to offer a product or service free of charge as long as the user provides a valid email address, and then use the addresses collected as spam targets. According to the CAN-SPAM Act, it is against the law to use harvested email addresses collected by these means and they should never be used in any commercial email marketing (Section 5(b)(1)(A)(i)(ii)). For Web sites that have published notices prohibiting the use of addresses for sending unsolicited commercial email marketing, any collection of these addresses is in violation of CAN-SPAM. However, for Web sites that don't prohibit their reuse for sending unsolicited email, it is not technically a violation of the law. But to do so could still be damaging to your email sender reputation because the ISPs may automatically file your email into the junk folder never to be seen or opened, or annoyed recipients may file spam complaints potentially blocking you from sending future email messages. While relevant messaging may help you when sending unsolicited email, obtaining affirmative consent or permission from email subscribers is still the best way to ensure email deliverability and protect your sender reputation. ### About The AuthorDavid Fowler is the director of email strategy, deliverability and privacy compliance for Lyris. He consults with email marketers to help them get better results from their email programs. Related Resources:
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