Just curious is it illegal to e-mail someone about something with out there permission. For example maybe your just wanting to e-mail them about something you have that might be interested in like a product because they have been doing it there self not necessarily e-mailing random people (in other words extremely selective about who your e-mailing)? I mean if that was the case then it would be illegal to e-mail people for link exchanges or ask about buying presell pages becuase all SEO companies do that. Send out unsolicited e-mails that are in reference to link exchanges and etc. I guess it just depends on the nature of it?
I agree, i think if the email address is made public, i.e. on a contact us form or you indeed us the contact us form to submit your proposal then no i dont think it is considered as spam. However, if you bought a million email address and bulk sent then yes it is. Hope that helps
illegal is only on when you reach levels that raise suspicion. Is it worth someone elses time and money to sue you?...probably not
Well I guess thats goes back under the category of it being ethical or not. I was reading at the wikipedia that its not really considered spam if its someone e-mailing you directly that selectively chose you instead of someone just grabbing e-mails and spamming you out with viagra ads if you know what I mean.
It depends on the countries, Internet laws varies between countries. Some have strict anti spam laws while some do not have any anti spam laws at all. Also enforcement, it won't be easy to enforce the laws over country boundaries. So law enforcement is not the major deterrent but the restrictions ISPs imposed on spams are the real deterrent. Despite that, my advice to you is do not spam. It is not professional nor ethical.
You have to tread carefully here. There are spam companies on the net that blacklist IP address's and domain names. If you do get flagged as being a spammer it could be more trouble than its worth. Don't forget when you spam ANYONE can get those emails and take decisive action... I just personally think its not worth it. Why not go for targetted traffic rather than sending out emails, at least there coming to you
Don't hold me to this but I believe you can send unsolicited bulk emails as long as the subject line matches the body, there's a valid opt-out option and if I remember right, a valid postal address.
This is for USA only, try that in Australia and you will be charged. Spam laws differ from country to country
We'll I agree there should be laws on spamming, but then again there is such thing as an ethical approach to someone. For example SEO companies use e-mail all day long for link request, we get e-mails from foreign countries asking if we'll out source to us. Which I don't look at that bad someone e-mailing ask us a question like if we would outsource, but what I do have a problem with is spam such as Viagra sites, Adult Sites, You know just e-mail that randomly goes out to people.
I would disagree, to me it would be like saying there is an ethical approach to stealing. Spammers are basically stealing your time, it takes time to delete such spams. The above that you mentioned are still spams.
The 'law' and semantics won't help you. If enough people report your emails as spam you will have little or no opportunity to plead your case before your domain or hosting is disabled.
Very true. One or two complaints is all it takes. One complaint if the E-mail is sent to spamcop or the likes. Places like that will blacklist an entire c class and not think twice about it...
You need to list your real name, and a valid postal address, and have some automated way to opt out, besides for this, you can spam it up all you want (more or less).
Not true, it depends which country you are in, if you are doing it in USA then their Can Spam may help, some other countries have far stringent rules where so basically had none.
I'll be honest with you guys I don't mind someone e-mailing us for a link exchange or maybe someone that is relevant to what we do maybe an out source company or someone looking for some work, and etc. But the porn industry, Viagra sites, and etc are ridiculous spamming people they just send out e-mail to random people. that's what I consider spam.
Well for me porn and viagra spams are definitely out and so is any UCE. As long as it is unsolicited commercial email I would consider that spam.