On January 1, 2004, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 took effect. The new law followed more than five years of debate on the issue of "spam" and was the product of a Congressional agreement reached at the close of the First Session of the 108^th Congress. Spam—unsolicited commercial e-mail--has become so prevalent that Congress found that it accounted for more than 50 percent of all e-mail traffic in 2001; other estimates are even higher. The CAN-SPAM Act (P.L. 108-187, 117 Stat. 2719) may have a significant impact on all businesses – including franchise companies – who use e-mail to communicate with (or advertise to) customers.