FEBUARY 2004
Greetings & Salutations:
With all the hoopla about the new "Can Spam Act,"
this month we will take a closer look at ...
Regulations & Regulators
When you were a small child, your Mother probably told
you to "Stop, Look and Listen, before you cross the street."
Her rule was handed down out of her love and concern for you.
-- She didn't want to find you "squashed-like-a-bug"
in the middle of the street. -- And, if she caught you violating
her rule, she punished you.
Your Mother did not make the rule to punish you. She
made the rule to protect you from yourself. The punishment
only came if you violated the rule and put yourself in jeopardy.
Later, when you began driving a car, the public again told
you to "Stop, Look and Listen, before you cross the street,"
and they erected STOP signs to remind you of that rule.
The public rule (law) was made to both protect you from yourself
and other members of the public, and to protect the public from
you. -- Again, the rule was not made to punish you.
Have you noticed, however, that there aren't any STOP signs
required by law at the end of your private driveway. But,
a wise and prudent person will Stop, Look and Listen at the end
of their own driveway before entering or crossing the street.
If EVERY member of the public were totally responsible, there
would be no need for either the rule (law) or the STOP sign,
and the regulators (police) would have no reason to exist; in
regard to traffic violations involving STOP signs anyway.
This simple illustration explains fully the ONLY & TRUE
PURPOSE OF LAW. -- But ...
As with anything having to do with human beings, the purpose
of the law can be (and often is) altered to make it punitive/vindictive,
protective, revenue producing, or even extortive in nature.
As a simple example, let's return to the traffic laws.
Like all laws, the only and true purpose of the traffic laws
is to have rules which will provide for responsible action by
each member of society (the public). But, those laws have
been, and are being, used for a multitude of other purposes.
PUNITIVE/VINDICTIVE PURPOSES -- A local politician,
bureaucrat, or law enforcement officer has a personal confrontation
with a citizen. The next thing you know, that citizen is
getting traffic citations every time he leaves his home.
Any minor infraction of the law; even doing 37 MPH in a 35 MPH
Zone, becomes a cause of action.
PROTECTIVE PURPOSES -- (This actually happened to me,
so I will relate the story to you.) -- Some 28 years ago, I owned
and operated a retail store downtown in a small city in Tennessee.
The only parking available downtown was on-street, metered parking.
Across the street from my retail store was a mortuary which
had been at that location for well over 50 years. When
they had a funeral service, it was their practice to cover the
parking meters on their side of the street; a full city block,
with "Reserved Funeral Parking" bags.
One morning, I arrived at my store at the customary time;
between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. Because the parking on my side
of the street was filled, I parked across the street and fed
the required 25ยข into the meter for 2 hours parking.
About 8:30 that morning, the mortuary covered the parking
meters with the "Reserved Funeral Parking" bags.
At about 9 o'clock, one of my employees came to my office to
tell me a police patrol car was issuing a "ticket"
on my parked car.
When I got the $20 parking ticket (and moved my car back to
my side of the street), I telephoned my attorney -- after all,
I still had about an hour of "paid" parking left on
the meter.
My attorney called back later to tell me that he had checked
the City Code and there was no "rule" about parking
at "covered" meters. As a matter of fact, there
wasn't even any authority for anyone to cover the meters.
Rather than paying the ticket, I appeared in City Court on
the date ordered by the ticket.
The City Judge was a little bit surprised by my appearance
in his court. After all, nobody ever comes to court about
a "parking ticket;" they just pay the small fine and
forget it. -- He was even more surprised when he asked me if
I was pleading "Guilty" or "Not Guilty" and
I responded, "Neither one."
After I explained to the Judge that there was NO LAW forbidding
the parking at covered meters; nor was there any law even authorizing
covered meters, he dismissed the case for "lack of cause."
Two weeks later my attorney sent me a copy of the new amendments
to the City Code. One of those amendments authorized mortuaries
downtown to reserve and cover parking meters for funeral attendees,
and exacted a $20 fine for parking at one of those covered meters.
As far as I know, "Straws Parking Law" is still
on the books in that Tennessee city, and that law is purely "protective"
for the one and only mortuary downtown.
REVENUE PRODUCING PURPOSES -- The stories of small,
one-horse towns that operate "speed-traps" across this
country are legend. -- The only real purpose of the speed-limit
laws in those towns is to produce revenue for the town itself.
Beyond this obvious revenue producing purpose, it isn't uncommon
for local government (city, county and state) to "tighten-up"
on the traffic laws in their areas in order to enhance their
local budgets. After all, its easy, because most people
don't contest their tickets. They just pay the fine and
forget it.
EXTORTIVE PURPOSES -- The most blatant example of an
extortive purpose applied to a traffic law occurred back when
the Federal Government enacted the 55 MPH speed limit nationwide.
Part of that particular enactment was that the states were required
to post, implement and enforce the 55 MPH speed limit -- or --
the state would lose it's Federal Highway fundings. -- If that
isn't extortion, my dictionary is malfunctioning.
Of course, the PURPOSE of Law can also be perverted in the
opposite direction as well. -- Lazy, careless, or inept law enforcement
officers (regulators) may simply fail to enforce the provisions
of the law. Some other regulators may choose to enforce
the laws more leniently and favorably for their friends and cohorts.
Then again, a few greedy ones will enforce the laws according
to who pays the most.
Now, you know more about the LAW than some attorneys and a
good many (if not most) bureaucrats.
LAW, in and of itself, is neither good, nor bad. It
is only the rules mandated by the public to prescribe and enforce
the responsibility and accountability of each member of the public.
The LAW has no other legitimate purpose, but, as I have illustrated,
the law is used by human beings to force their will upon other
members of the public for various purposes.
Although the "Can Spam Act" is ludicrous on its
face, absurd in its entirety, and a travesty against the free
enterprise system upon which this nation was founded, it is now
the "law of the land" when it comes to the sending
of email. -- But ...
Too many of the Internet Gurus ... without education in the
practice of law ... have taken it upon themselves to "interpret"
the new law -- scaring the bejeebers out of too many small email
marketers. -- Usually, with the objective of selling some kind
of manual, course or computer tool to protect the email marketer
from being labeled a "spammer."
NOTE: If you will notice, I am using the word
"spam" without adding asterisks between the letters
to protect this publication from being labeled spam. -- There
is a method in my seeming madness. -- If this issue is labeled
"spam" and returned to me, I will simply remove that
person from my list. - Why? -- Because, anyone who "claims"
to want to learn about making money and has a spam blocker on
their email to block business messages is just "pretending"
to want to be in business. In my humble opinion, they aren't
serious enough about making money to be on my list.
Contrary to what the scare'em-into-buying-something Internet
Gurus have told you, the Can Spam Act specifically excludes "transactional
and relationship marketing" from the definition of "commercial
electronic mail message" under the act. -- That means ...
If someone buys something from you, inquires about your
products or services, receives a "freebie" from you,
signs up for an ezine you publish (even if they don't double
opt-in), or in any way corresponds with you by email ... creating
a "relationship" ... you may legally add them to your
email list - and - the Can Spam Act DOES NOT apply to your emailings
to them. -- Plain and simple.
The Can Spam Act, in actuality, only applies to unsolicited
"bulk" emailings.
Unless you are guilty of doing unsolicited "bulk"
emailings, you have little to fear of the act. That is,
unless of course some officious person decides to use it in a
punitive/vindictive, protective, revenue producing, or even extortive
way against you personally. -- But ...
Anytime anyone even intimates that "you" are a spammer
... delete them from you email list immediately (if not sooner)
-- as I have done since 1999 when I first started this e-Letter.
Never fear the law. -- Fear the "people" who, in
their quest for power over others, may use the law for punitive,
vindictive, protective, revenue producing, or even extortive
purposes.
Law is a shield - but - in far too many cases it
is wielded as a sword by those people entrusted to enforce the
laws.
By the way, the Can Spam Act came into force on January 1,
2004 - but - according to my email logs, "spam" to
my email address has increased by just over 7%. -- Go figure!
Copyright - 2004, J.F. (Jim) Straw. All rights reserved.