QUESTION
We hired a telemarketing and website lead company to get new loan applicant
leads. In the company's contract, they state that they provide disclosure involving the “harvesting” of electronic
mail. What is meant by harvesting?
ANSWER
As I have said many times, you should be retaining a firm such as ours
to review your telemarketing policies. There are so many ways that a
relationship with a telemarketer or a website used to generate leads can go wrong, that you really need a careful
review of this kind of relationship.
However, it is important to know what “harvesting” means, especially
as it relates to the services provided by a lead source.
“Harvesting” refers
to the process of obtaining the electronic mail address of a recipient. By "electronic mail address," I mean a destination, commonly expressed as a string of characters, consisting of a unique user name of mail box and a reference to an Internet domain, whether or not displayed, to which an electronic mail message can be sent. [15 USC § 7006(1)]
An "electronic mail message" is simply a message sent to a unique electronic mail address. [15 USC § 7006(2)]
Harvesting takes place by using
an automated means from the Internet website or proprietary online service
operated by another entity, and such website or online service included, at the
time the address was obtained, a notice stating that the operator of such
website or online service will not give, sell, or otherwise transfer addresses
maintained by such website or online service to any other party for the
purposes of initiating, or others to initiate, electronic mail messages. [15
USC §
7006(3)]
Jonathan Foxx
Managing Director
Lenders Compliance Group
