How to send mass email legally

Can I legally send targeted email?
The question, "Can I legally send targeted email?", is a common question and the simple answer is YES.
The more difficult question is HOW?

If you are sending targeted email - even to your own customers who really want to hear from you - you could be at risk of losing your account with your ISP or be subject to fines of up to $11,000 by the FTC.

Who is your ISP?

Chances are you have more than one ISP. We might host your site and your email, but we may not be your ISP for your connection to the internet. We only offer that service to our customers in the Santa Monica area, and most of our hosting customers are not located in the Santa Monica area. We are not the only ISP even for our customers who have their internet connections through us - at some level there is a telco involved.

ISPs may not allow their customers to engage in SPAM practices. If they allow such practices, they can lose their ability to do business. Therefore, if you are the customer of an ISP and you engage in spam practices, your ISP has the right to turn off your service without notice.
Check the policy of your ISP

The acceptable use policies of ISPs tend to be a bit vague. They tell you more what not to do than what you can do. PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR ISPs for specifics. You may use this page is a guideline. However, since we are not your only ISP, you could follow the instructions on this page and still experience a termination of services!

Acceptable Use Policy
A User may not use the services provided by CompanyV.com Corp to transmit unsolicited commercial e-mail messages or deliberately send excessively large attachments to one recipient. Any unsolicited commercial e-mail messages or a series of unsolicited commercial e-mail messages or large attachments sent to one recipient constitutes Unsolicited Commercial E-mail "UCE" and is prohibited. In addition, "spamming" or "mailbombing" is also prohibited. Use of the service of another provider to send UCE, spam or mailbombs, to promote a site hosted on or connected to our network, is similarly prohibited. Likewise, you may not use the services provided by CompanyV.com Corp to collect responses from mass unsolicited e-mail messages.

If we detect unacceptable use by any of our customers we may halt services without notice. A $250.00 service charge will be billed for halting services plus $125.00 per hour for any and all actions required by us for resolution.
So, what CAN you do?

NEVER send mail with lists in the "TO:" or "CC:" line

ONLY send to addresses you obtained through honest means.

If you are sending targeted email from an account provided by CompanyV.com, do not send to more than 10 recipients at a time - and make sure that all those addresses are in the "BCC:" line
Follow the laws and use good Netiquette...
Good Netiquette

Everyone's time is valuable. One person's "cause" or "concern" may mean nothing to the next. People who have no interest in your message may consider it spam, become upset and complain. With this in mind, the basic rule is, Do not send a message to anyone unless you absolutely know that he/she wants to receive it.

Do not send large attachments.

Do not send lengthy content when you can send links to information online.

DO NOT USE ALL CAPs

Do Not use all BOLD Don't use many colors and fonts either. Make sure your message is not hard sell, or the recipients' spam filters will probably eat it.

Test your own OPT-OUT system. Make sure you have a policy and procedure in place and that everyone understands how important it is to adhere to it.

Ideally, your message should consist only of properly formatted text. If HTML is required, it should not simply be pasted in from a web page, but should be prepared specifically for the purpose. Also, if HTML is used, there should also be an equivalent text section with the same message as text only.

Professional list management practices:
Email should be addressed specifically to the addressee and no one else. Your email database should contain the name of the addressee as well as the email address itself, so a mailing system can easily personalize the message in the body of the email.

Best Practice:
Provide an automated unsubscribe link that puts people directly into the "remove" database. Keep records of where an address came from and records of addresses that have asked to be removed.

Professional preparation: Targeted email should be composed and formatted at least as carefully as any other marketing material that a company would produce.