Some keep mailing after receipt of an opt-out request. Others don’t make opt-out clear enough. A few of America’s largest etailers are in the Federal Trade Commission’s crosshairs.

The FTC’s study of top sellers reveals that 11% continued mailing even after FTC gumshoes unsubscribed. This is, of course, a direct violation of the CAN-SPAM Act. While four percent sometimes responded to unsubscribe requests, seven percent just kept pounding out the e-mail, i.e., spamming… An important observation.

Perpetrators need to be educated or executed. But as staff discourse lumbers on, it switches from relevance to extending agency franchise: “While phrases such as “Unsubscribe” were deemed minimally acceptable under the [CAN-SPAM] Act’s requirements in this study, it is the staff’s opinion that it is a better practice to include more context… so that all recipients of any commercial email message will be fully informed of their opt-out rights. Moreover, depending on the circumstances, the mere use of the terms “Remove Me” or “Unsubscribe” may not satisfy the clear and conspicuous notice requirements of sections 7704(a)(3)(A)(i) and (5)(A)(ii) of the CAN-SPAM Act.”

In other words, “English-speaking users aren’t smart enough to understand the language.” Balderdash.

Most experts agree that the dumb users are those who click on the “Unsubscribe” link. By clicking it, you telegraphing your live e-mail address to a potentially unscrupulous, though well-known operator.

That’s why savvy users blacklist senders at the network or desktop spam filter, so they never have to shovel the vendor’s fewmets again.

Despite FTC’s over-reach, its review shows there are still spammers lurking among the top etailers in the US. And that’s the best case.

Imagine what the agency would have discovered by investigating all US etailers… Spam City.

See for yourself at US Federal Trade Commission (pdf).