If you have to ask if it is spam, it probably is.
Defending a Blurred Line: Is It Spam or Just a Company Marketing by E-Mail? E-mail marketers are mounting a fierce challenge to blacklists, lists created by online spam fighters to help filter out the worst senders of unwanted e-mail.
In the interest of full disclosure, we know a bit about this industry, at least we did in the dot-boom days (1999-2001) before the company we represented was bought up by DoubleClick. Companies that don't use double opt in (you have to ask to be included on a mailing list, and then confirm you indeed want to receive email) are just asking for trouble. The trouble with SpamHaus is there doesn't really seem to be procedures to get your name off, if you are in fact not a spammer, and just a opt out mailer (your company automatically adds your name to a mailing list if you purchase something, for instance). Opt out is irritating, but isn't really spam.
Spamhaus, which was formed in 1998 and is operated by 25 volunteers around the world, is one of many spam-busters that emerged around the same time to aid Internet service providers and businesses desperate to filter out spam before it reached consumers. Their mission is to offer antispam protection for Internet networks to stave off an onslaught of unsolicited bulk e-mail, which is how they define spam. But international authorities have yet to agree precisely on the definition of spam, leaving antispam groups vulnerable to challenges.Most European countries require prior consent from recipients before a sender can transmit bulk e-mail messages to them. The United States and Japan favor a freedom-of-commerce approach that does not require advance consent but does offer a choice to unsubscribe from mass mailings.
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In the United States, the Can-Spam Act of 2003 permits bulk e-mailing as long as messages are marked as advertising and include a way for the recipient to decline them. Mr. Linhardt says that when he sends out bulk mailings for clients, like BargainDepot.net, his company sends messages only to people who have signed up for e-mail alerts on that Web site.Spamhaus scoffs at his claims, saying it has collected samples of Mr. Linhardt’s e-mail messages sent to some of the group’s own investigators, along with examples sent in by Internet users who said they never agreed to accept such material.
The U.S. should adopt the European model, but there are too many Fortune 500 companies who want to grow their mailing lists by any means necessary, for some stupid reason.
Tags: spam
