Houfy Anti-Spam Policy

At Houfy, we are aware of our responsibilities as a good Internet citizen and are dedicated to protecting the privacy rights of other Internet citizens. We vigorously oppose the sending of unsolicited e-mail (spam). This Anti-Spam Policy is a part of each customer's agreement for services with us.

Houfy does not allow anyone to use our services for the purpose of sending spam. We refuse business from known spammers. If a Houfy member (anyone using a Houfy account) uses our services to send spam, that member’s account will be voided. As a further step, we require that each email message sent through Houfy includes an easy way for recipients to remove themselves via an unsubscribe link. If a recipient calls our offices and requests to be manually removed from a customer's list, we will manually unsubscribe delete the recipient from the member’s account.

Guidance for our Members

In all cases, we require that email messages sent through Houfy meet with the requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, as amended. As a courtesy to our members, we have set out some guidelines below that show some (but not all) of the minimum standards our members must meet. It is up to our members to ensure that their emails are fully compliant.

The CAN-SPAM Act discriminates between two kinds of emails: Commercial and Transactional. Commercial emails are subject to stricter standards than those considered to be Transactional.

Commercial email is that where the primary purpose "is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service". Examples of Commercial email include those emails sent to an address list purchased by the sender. At a minimum, requirements for a CAN-SPAM compliant Commercial email include:

• The sender is identified in the header of the email.
• The subject line accurately represents the content of the email.
• The message within the email is identified as an advertisement, unless the recipient has expressly requested to be emailed.
• The email includes a real, physical mailing address for the sender's business.
• The email includes a simplified opt-out mechanism that requires no more than a click to arrive at a single landing page where they may unsubscribe. The recipient cannot be required to log in to be removed from future emails.
• Opt-out requests are to be honored within 10 days, the address is added to the sender's internal suppression list, and the unsubscribe/remove me mechanism remains functional for 30 days from the date the email was sent.

Transactional email is that where the intent is to "facilitate, complete, or confirm a commercial transaction that the recipient has previously agreed to enter into with the sender".

Examples of Transactional emails are newsletters that the recipient signed up to receive; however, to the extent that any such email seeks to advertise or promote a brand, a company or product or service, it may also be primarily Commercial in purpose, and therefore subject to the more stringent Commercial email standards.

Another example of a Transactional email is a "welcome" message to a new customer where the sender is following up on a business relationship.

Requirements for a CAN-SPAM compliant Transactional email are:

• The subject line is transactional and non-promotional.
• The transactional content appears in the body of the email prior to the commercial content.

We recommend to our members that if they are in doubt about which category their email falls into, then they should err on the side of the email being deemed Commercial, and fulfill those requirements.

Examples of Email Messages that Should Not Be Transmitted Through Houfy:

• Any e-mail message that is sent to a recipient who had previously signed up to receive newsletters, product information or any other type of bulk email but later opted-out by indicating to the sender that they did not want to receive additional email.
• Any e-mail message that is sent to recipients that have had no prior association with the organization or did not agree to be e-mailed by the organization.
• Any e-mail message that is sent to a recipient without a mechanism to opt-out or request that future mailings not be sent to them.
• Any email message that does not have a valid email address in the "From" header line.
• Any email message that contains any false or misleading information in the header, subject line or message itself.
• Any email that says you can earn $1000s each week from home.
• Any email message that promotes an adult web site is spam, unless the recipient has specifically requested information from that web site.
• Any message that contains "ADV:", "ADV ADLT:", or "ADV ADULT" in the subject.
• Any message that is sent to e-mail addresses that have been harvested off of web sites, newsgroups, or other areas of the Internet.
• Any message that is sent to e-mail addresses that have been gathered via "e-mail appending", also known as, e-pending, is spam. E-pending is the practice of merging a database of customer information that lacks e-mail addresses for the customers with a third party's database of e-mail addresses in an attempt to match the e-mail addresses with the information in the initial database.
• Any message that is not identified as an advertisement or solicitation is spam (unless affirmative consent to send the message has been obtained).
• Any message that does not include a valid physical address and provide clear and conspicuous notice to recipients of their right to opt-out of future emailings (unless affirmative consent has been obtained).
• Any message that does not does not have a valid return email address or other mechanism that remains active for thirty (30) days after the time the message is sent to allow recipients to opt-out of future emailings.
• Any message that includes misleading to/from/or subject headings.
• Any email that contains deceptive advertising.
• Any email message that does not allow unsubscribing.
• Any email that does not correctly identify the sender.

What is Not Spam?

• Generally, there is no clear definition of what is and is not spam.
• An e-mail message sent to recipients who agreed to receive information or promotions from the sender, or a partner organization, provided that he/she at that time agreed to have their information transferred to third parties.
• Newsletters that consist of exclusively informational content to which the recipient affirmatively subscribed.
• Email that the recipient requested.

What We Do to Stop Spam

Houfy may determine at its sole discretion whether a member is spamming. There are a number of factors Houfy uses to determine whether a member is spamming, including, but not limited to: complaints sent to abuse report addresses, SpamCop reports, complaints sent to any of Houfy's upstream providers, and evaluating a customer's mass e-mail statistics and recipient addresses. Decisions made by Houfy personnel regarding a member’s use of Houfy are final.

There are three ways by which a Houfy member may violate this Anti-Spam policy:

• By sending spam.
• By not responding properly to an inquiry from a Houfy staff member about the source of a particular e-mail list or e-mail address.
• By not including the required elements on every e-mail sent through the Houfy service.

Contacting Houfy About Spam

If you have any questions about our Anti-Spam Policy, or to report spamming activity by one of our customers, please contact us using the contact information provided on the contact page.