Anti-Spam Policy

The purpose of this Policy is to define the measures taken by Locaweb pursuant to its anti-spam commitment. Said measures are divided into the following categories:

a) INFORMATIVE OR EDUCATIONAL: Aimed at informing not only Locaweb customers, but also the general public, about WHAT is SPAM and the ways to minimize accusations of SPAMMING. The information presented in this kind of measure is detailed below and in the form of tips and comments throughout Locaweb’s websites;

b) TECHNOLOGICAL: Use of technical tools available to Locaweb customers to avoid receiving SPAM (filters, blocked sender list, originating address confirmation, etc.) and to avoid being accused of sending SPAM (active confirmation), and;

c) REPRESSIVE: Enforcement of contractual clauses set forth in the General Terms, which authorize Locaweb to immediately take offending websites offline.

Locaweb and its Customers’ Anti-Spam Commitment

Locaweb, in tune with the best practices of the Internet and of its most influential non-governmental organizations, and also by its customers’ demand, publicly manifests its ANTI-SPAM COMMITMENT. Through it, Locaweb commits itself to hindering, by all means available to it, the practice of SPAM, and to making public its disapproval of this practice, as well as its determination to keep its customers from taking part in it.

Anyone who becomes a Locaweb customer automatically accepts, fully and without restriction, by the simple act of signing up for Locaweb’s services, the commitment to NOT PRACTICE SPAM IN ANY OF ITS MODES.

Thus, all Locaweb customers agree to follow the rule of fighting SPAM, and are responsible for not practicing SPAM under any pretext and no matter the circumstances.

IN CASE LOCAWEB DETECTS THE SENDING OF SPAM BY ANY OF ITS CUSTOMERS, THE CUSTOMERS’ WEBSITE WILL BE TAKEN OFFLINE AS PER THE ARTICLES OF THE GENERAL TERMS OF SERVICE, WITHOUT NOTICE TO THE CUSTOMER AND WITH NO LIABILITY TO LOCAWEB.

Locaweb’s customers are limited to 10% (ten percent) bounced e-mails, except if otherwise stated in the customer’s contract, case in which the contract’s limits will prevail.
"Bounced e-mails" are any type of error that compromises the delivery of the message to its destination. One of the most common of these errors is a non-existent destination e-mail address domain. Therefore, in case the Locaweb customer receives and amount of e-mail destination errors above the specified 10%, LOCAWEB will presume the practice of SPAMMING by the customer and proceed to take the customer’s website offline.

Reports of SPAM deemed to have been practiced by Locaweb customers should be sent to abuse@locaweb.com.

THIS IS LOCAWEB AND ITS CUSTOMERS’ ANTI-SPAM COMMITMENT. FOLLOW IT AND HELP LOCAWEB ENFORCE IT FOR A BETTER INTERNET.

Basics on the characterization of spam

What is SPAM?

Basically, SPAM is the sending of any kind of e-mail or other kind of electronic message that motivates a complaint from the recipient and/or any other organization or individual whose functions include fighting SPAM.

SPAM is not a viable means of advertising. Even though it’s tempting to use it, it is forcing the entire Internet to change the rules and regulations for using e-mail systems and increase its restrictions and the punishment for companies that practice SPAM.

It’s also important to always report SPAM, which is a harmful practice that can only be fought with the help of users.

Why is SPAM a problem?

The Internet is an extremely dynamic and complex environment. E-mail is one of the Internet’s components, and is today the main means of communication within it.

This important communications channel, however, has been suffering from degradation due to the increasing number of messages, not just for advertising, but also jokes and other types of messages sent indiscriminately without having been requested by the recipient. That is SPAM. This degradation translates into more message storage space, heavier e-mail server loads, heavier communications network loads, etc.

Additionally, more and more users ignore unsolicited e-mail messages and frown upon companies that send them. Thus, even commercially SPAM is fast becoming undesirable.

Other sources of information

SpamCop - Spam Reporting and Filtering Software - http://www.spamcop.net

Spam.Abuse.net - "Fight Spam on the Internet!" information center - http://spam.abuse.net

ScamBusters.org - Stop Spam! - http://www.scambusters.org/stopspam/index.html

Spambot Beware - Glossary of Spam Related Terms - http://www.turnstep.com/Spambot/glossary.html

Basic tips to avoid being accused of spam

Precautions

• Don’t send “newsletters” on the assumption that users would like to receive them.
• Don’t have an “e-mail address” field in your site without faithfully following the “Active Confirmation” described in this document.
• Don’t buy e-mail address lists. That may be illegal in your region and most likely will generate SPAM complaints against your site. Don’t believe in any guarantee your vendor gives you as to the approval of the e-mail address owners in regards to the use of their addresses for any given purpose. That is most likely not true.
• The fact that your customers signed up for anything via your website does not mean they’ve accepted to receive advertisements or miscellaneous messages from you. They must explicitly request to receive your e-mails.
• If you have a program that collects all the e-mail addresses from people that send questions or other messages to your website and use those e-mail addresses to send unsolicited messages, you will most certainly be accused of sending SPAM.
• The laws that deal with this matter vary greatly from country to country, therefore it is not a valid argument that the e-mails sent may not be considered SPAM because of some congress’ concluding statements or come country’s laws, either domestic or foreign.
• Check www.locaweb.com frequently for eventual updates on the subject.

Active confirmation

The ideal way to validate an e-mail address’ owner’s desire to receive your e-mail messages is through a process we here call “Active confirmation”. It is based on obtaining an explicit request from a visitor to be included in your records, and therefore guarantee that you have their approval to receive future e-mail messages. This technique is particularly useful if you want to build an e-mail address database without running the risk of being accused of SPAM. This is common in forms with a “Tell a friend” field which causes many “Friends” to be referred without their knowledge and therefore consider any messages received in connection with the website to be SPAM.

How to implement active confirmation:

• If you have some kind of "Tell a friend” field and obtain an e-mail address through it, DON’T record it in your e-mail database just yet.
• If you have a customer data form, make sure you include a clearly marked checkbox, where the customer agrees to receive information, advertisement, etc. via e-mail from your website.
• Immediately send an e-mail message to the e-mail address provided, with a clear, concise text with NO ADVERTISEMENTS, saying that that e-mail address was registered to continue receiving information from your website, and telling the recipient that if they wish to confirm their registration they should reply to the message with a pre-defined text.
• If and when you get the reply, and only then, you may consider the e-mail address as confirmed and save it into your database.
• Save the confirmation message, because it will be your only proof of the user’s acceptance of your messages.
• Note: This process does not guarantee that your website will not be accused of SPAM; it merely serves as additional protection against it, and as a way to show good faith and transparency.

Important: This process is not a guarantee that your website will not be accused of SPAM, but rather a way to protect yourself against this and demonstrate good faith and transparency.

IMPORTANT

In case of reported SPAM by a Locaweb customer, and it not being the case for immediate deactivation of their website, Locaweb reserves the right to demand a MANDATORY use of “Active confirmation” by the customer in order to keep their services active. In addition to that, on Locaweb’s sole discretion, the case may be considered serious and Locaweb may demand the elimination of the e-mail address list used by the site, in order to guarantee that the site will cease sending potentially unsolicited e-mail messages to certain addresses.