What Does Murkogram Mean?
A murkogram is a specific kind of email that includes a privacy disclaimer based on a proposed (but never enacted) U.S. law that would have governed how spammers can operate. Technically, the disclaimer on the murkogram has no actual legal power, and is irrelevant to the legality of the email message.
Techopedia Explains Murkogram
In 1999, a U.S. senator named Frank Murkowski proposed “S.1618 Title III” or the Inbox Privacy Act, which was supposed to be attached to certain telephone-related legislation. This would have required unsolicited commercial email messages to include things like the sender’s name and address, telephone number and Internet address, as well as an opt-out selection for receivers. The bill never passed, so the verbiage at the bottom of some spam emails that references it does not really mean anything, but it has become effective in stopping consumers from complaining about certain types of spam messages. Regardless, most types of murkograms are now illegal due to other laws that have been passed since then.
