<B><I>Clause Of The Month</b></i>Anti-Spamming Provision for E-mail Provider's Acceptable Use Policy

Any company that provides any kind of e-mail services should make it clear to users at the outset that spamming will not be tolerated. The following language may be included in the provider's Acceptable Use Policy that must be agreed to by all users.

You agree not to use the Services to:

1. impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity; forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any material transmitted through the Services; or
2. transmit (by uploading, posting, e-mail or otherwise) any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, 'junk mail,' 'spam,' 'chain letters,' 'pyramid schemes' or any other form of solicitation, unless the recipient has specifically requested to receive such information and is at all times given the opportunity to opt-out of receiving such information in the future.

Donald R. Ballman is an associate in the Hartford, CT, office of Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner LLP.

Despite their constant technological and legal efforts, e-mail providers have found it nearly impossible to keep users from spreading unsolicited commercial e-mail, or spam, throughout their systems. The situation has reached the point where traditionally fierce competitors such as America Online, Yahoo! and Microsoft are now pooling their resources to combat spam.