How to ensure Internet Law compliance?
May 7th, 2009
360 degrees asked:
Most people including the internet gurus do not address these aptly. There are a couple of scenarios. 1) Affiliate Marketing – my take is to seek immunity to provide legal inclusions on the landing page representing the original seller. I do not know what legalease to use and where to obtain such content. 2) Email Marketing – By outsourcing to vendors like Aweber, GetResponse, iContact, because they are CAN-SPAM compliant, suppose opted-in subscribers claim they did not do so would providing an audit trail on how these subscribers got signed up good enough as evidence to nullify their claims? Becos these outsource parties handled these data capture and unsubscription, can I be rendered immune by default should there be a lawsuit arising? 3) Private Label, Master Reselle Rights – I was told that the people selling them may not be the originators and hence what they checklist on the rights of use may not be legitimate. How can one keep on the side of the law when using such rights?
Most people including the internet gurus do not address these aptly. There are a couple of scenarios. 1) Affiliate Marketing – my take is to seek immunity to provide legal inclusions on the landing page representing the original seller. I do not know what legalease to use and where to obtain such content. 2) Email Marketing – By outsourcing to vendors like Aweber, GetResponse, iContact, because they are CAN-SPAM compliant, suppose opted-in subscribers claim they did not do so would providing an audit trail on how these subscribers got signed up good enough as evidence to nullify their claims? Becos these outsource parties handled these data capture and unsubscription, can I be rendered immune by default should there be a lawsuit arising? 3) Private Label, Master Reselle Rights – I was told that the people selling them may not be the originators and hence what they checklist on the rights of use may not be legitimate. How can one keep on the side of the law when using such rights?
> How can one keep on the side of the law when using such rights?
Short answer:
If you are fussing around in such nebulous activities as affiliate marketing and opt-out mailing lists to the extent that you are worried about your legal exposure, then you should reconsider the entire venture. Seek out qualified legal experience to advise you. But even though I am not a lawyer, I can advise you there is no way you are going to “outsource” your legal liability 100%. even if you set up a corporation, such a corporate veil would be easily pierced.
Longer answer:
> 1) Affiliate Marketing – my take is to seek immunity to provide legal inclusions on the landing page representing the original seller. I do not know what legalease to use and where to obtain such content.
I don’t know what you mean by “legal inclusion representing the original seller” so the question doesn’t make sense to me other then you seem to be seeking to avoid liability for your actions.
> 2) Email Marketing – By outsourcing to vendors like Aweber, GetResponse, iContact, because they are CAN-SPAM compliant, suppose opted-in subscribers claim they did not do so would providing an audit trail on how these subscribers got signed up good enough as evidence to nullify their claims? Becos these outsource parties handled these data capture and unsubscription, can I be rendered immune by default should there be a lawsuit arising?
You can bet such services run the gamut from sleazy to legit. In any case, again you seem to be seeking to avoid liability for your actions. Read and understand, and if you don’t understand, hire a lawyer to explain, the TOS of the service you choose. Also understand what is not in the TOS compared to the law. You will need an attorney that specializes in such matters.
BTW, my expertise here comes form having been an early Product Manager at the first opt-in outsource service provider.
>> 3) Private Label, Master Reselle Rights – I was told that the people selling them may not be the originators and hence what they checklist on the rights of use may not be legitimate. How can one keep on the side of the law when using such rights?
Again, IANAL, but if you are not clear on the rights of your vendors to represent the terms of the deals, then do not sign any contracts or otherwise rely on those representations.