Touseff,

On this point, we need to be careful in our presumptions.

I take it you want to market animation services to production houses. So the questions become:

* What are the general rules about sending commercial email?

As pointed out else where, in the US market place under the CAN SPAM Act of 2003 there is no concept of implied consent.

Implied consent means consent based on a business relationship or for example because someone did post their contact information on their website.

However, under the Act in sending commercial email, either you have "affirmative consent" or you are sending spam.

Having said this, if we are speaking of transaction or relationship messages, a different set of rules apply.

But, a transaction or relationship message is specifically defined under the Act. To have any application in your case there is the need for an existing relationship.

Unfortunately, you don't have an existing relationship with any of the people you are seeking to contact.

The Act outlines very limited categories. None of the listed categories apply to this situation.

* What are the terms and conditions of posting within the specific directory?

Does the directory say on the web site, businesses by posting on this web site are specifically seeking co-production proposals which visitors can send to the listed email address?

Doubt it. At best, if you go to a specific web site, there may be a form set up on the site allowing you to get in contact with the business with your proposal.

* What is the generally accepted practice within the specific industry on sending commercial proposals?

The general presumption is "any email I did not ask for and don't want is spam."

However, in the online marketing industry for example, the general presumption is "one off, specifically tailored messages to an individual within a company are not treated as spam."

Please note this is only a presumption. Also, keep in mind, by law you still have to comply with all of the prohibitions set out in the Act in sending commercial email.

I have no idea what the general practice is within the co-production industry. It would be prudent not to make any assumptions other than the general statement:

"Any email I did not ask for and don't want is spam."

* What are the acceptable use policies of the internet access service you are using to send the email message?

The ISP you use to send email may have an AUP prohibiting the use of their network to transmit unsolicited commercial email or unsolicited email.

If so, this means, unless you have "affirmative consent" you can't send the proposal by email.

As to checking whether you are blacklisted, Karen Fogerty has referenced an excellent commercial service.

http://www.blacklistmonitor.com

The benefit of this service? It does the checking for you automatically, so relieving you of the need to check yourself. If you are sending any amount of commercial email through your own mail server, or shared virtual webhost server, you will certainly want to consider using her service.

If this is not important, you can check DNS & Stuff found at:

http://www.dnsstuff.com/

The problem with using DNS & Stuff? If there are listings you need to check each individual service.

A lot of black lists are listed, many of which are individual in nature and are not relied upon by any of the major ISPs or mail box providers.

Also, unlike commercial services, every time you want to send email, you need to go back and do the checks.

So, if time is money, then consider a commercial service like Blacklist monitor. If money is tight, do it yourself.

Trusting this helps.

Kind regards,

John Glube
Toronto, Canada

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