Spam Is Not In The Eyes Of The Receiver

As an internet blogger, I am put in contact with a lot of persons I might otherwise never know. Some of these are people who make their entire living on the internet. They have opened my eyes to some important points regarding the matter of bulk e-mail. I thought I would pass along those insights.

I am keenly aware of what it is like to receive massive amounts of e-mail concerning products or services in which I have absolutely no interest. I actually receive hundreds of such offers, not just every month, not just every week, but every single day. In fact, I receive way more bulk commercial e-mails than the average Joe. I am definitely anti-spam. However, much of the unwanted e-mail I receive is technically not spam.

You see, just not being interested in something you receive does not make it spam. Just because a particular e-mail is sent in bulk to a huge list does not make it spam. It may rub against the grain, but just because you consider a particular piece of e-mail to be junk or e-mail clutter does not make it spam. Why is that?

When our legislators started trying to get a handle on the growing problem of unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE), they found it necessary to define "spam." You cannot pass reasonable laws against something unless you can define what that something is. It soon became clear that no definition was going to satisfy everyone. Furthermore, there were issues regarding free speech and restraint of trade that were going to make violations hard to prosecute.

Here are some hard facts:

1) Not all bulk e-mail is spam. A number of people intentionally subscribe to mailing lists which may be quite large. Both the senders and the receivers have the right to communicate in this fashion.

2) Not all commercial e-mail is unsolicited. People ask for product and/or service information all the time. The providers of that information have a right to respond to these requests.

3) If you subscribe to or request information and then later forget or change your mind, the sender has no way of knowing until you communicate this change. Your forgetting or changing your mind does not make the e-mail you received spam.

4) Many people unintentionally request information while surfing the internet. Sometimes they are completing surveys or entering contests. They may not notice their request or may fail to recognize that is what they are doing. Their ignorance does not justify accusing the one who honors their request of spamming.

People often get angry with themselves for getting on this or that list. However, instead of properly requesting removal, they will often hit the "report spam" link instead. This bogs down the system. A bonifide investigation will frequently verify that the recipient did indeed request or give permission for the information despite all protestations to the contrary. These false spam reports make it more difficult to isolate the real spammers because false reports waste the time and energy of the investigators.

I'll have more to say about the spam wars in future posts.

That's Wade's two cents.

Wade Houston
December, 14, 2007


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