Michigan and Utah Child Registry Laws impact Online Marketers

Release date: January 23, 2006  /  Print This

Parents and others may now register instant messenger IDs, mobile text messaging and fax numbers – additional ‘contact points’ – to prevent inappropriate messages from reaching children. The law prohibits persons from sending inappropriate messages to these registered contact points. Previously, only e-mail addresses to which minors have access were listed on the registry.

The Michigan Children's Protection Registry Act became effective July 21, 2004, and the civil penalties associated with noncompliance with the Act became effective July 1, 2005. Under the Act, “A person shall not send, cause to be sent, or conspire with a third party to send a message to a contact point that has been registered for more than 30 calendar days with the department if the primary purpose of the message is to, directly or indirectly, advertise or otherwise link to a message that advertises a product or service that a minor is prohibited by law from purchasing, viewing, possessing, participating in, or otherwise receiving.”

The compliance mechanism for email marketers became operational on November 16, 2005, and the per “contact point” fee is 7/10 of one cent.

The Act defines both criminal penalties and civil penalties. The criminal penalties point to those outlined under the 1979 Fraudulent Access to Computers Act.