In message <[log in to unmask]>, at 09:34:40
on Tue, 1 Feb 2005, Jethro R Binks <[log in to unmask]> writes
>On Mon, 31 Jan 2005, Charles Prescott wrote:
>
>> I must say a Constitution with a bill of rights that says political
>> discourse is protected is a nice thing to have, in my view. While
>> political party propaganda may be annoying or welcome, and anywhere in
>> between, I fail to see that it is "commercial" as in "unsolicited
>> commercial e-mail". Focusing on a medium and banning "all" unsolicited
>> speech therein does seem to me dangerous for political liberties.>
>
>In anti-spam circles, the commonly-used expression 'spam' does not refer
>to "unsolicited commercial email", it refers to UBE, "Unsolicited Bulk
>Email". The fact that it may or may not be commercial is neither here nor
>there.
Yes, that's the view that right-minded ISPs have (and they are perhaps
still a majority). It's the bulk-ness and lack of effort sending that
matters. If each one was typed out individually, but with pretty much
the same content, then it would be OK - whatever the content.
>They also have the motto: "Spam is about conSent, not conTent".
Sorry, despite being arguably one of Europe's leading anti-Spam
activists for six years, I've never herd that one before :-(
>Tim Trent said:
>
>> Let's not get into a debate about the US Constitution though! Politics
>> is business, you know, and is commercial. When you guys had that
>> election the other month I kept getting bush and kerry emails - I am not
>> even IN the USA and "am not now, nor have I ever been" a citizen. Now,
>> to me that is SPAM. The more so since it missed the target by miles :)
>
>UBE means that the commerciality of it is irrelevant, although clearly
>they have stepped to another level of immoral behaviour if they cannot
>even guarantee that any address they have obtained (by whatever means)
>targets a US citizen eligible to vote. It rather casts doubt that they
>used any legitimate mechanism for obtaining email addresses to send their
>wares to.
>
>Roland Perry followed up with:
>
>> Political parties have become commercialised, just look at the funds
>> raised for the recent Presidential campaigns, for example. If
>> unsolicited emails were the only way they could make political speeches,
>> then there might be some merit in allowing them (but that's a thin end
>> of a wedge for any kind of "appeal" - do you restrict it to people
>> running for office, or do you include every lobby and pressure group,
>> which these days extends to charities. How would you classify
>> Greenpeace?)
>
>While that discussion is made largely redundant by understanding the real
>nature of spam,
Unfortunately, legislators have been lobbied so hard by the commercial
interests (DMA included) that they end up only wanting to regulate
*commercial* spam; or perhaps they don't understand why anyone would
send spam unless they had a commercial motive). Which as you so rightly
point out not only means lots of arguments about edge cases, but denies
that there might be bulk email that's genuinely not commercial, but
still annoying.
>Roland hits the nail on the head with the last comment.
>If Greenpeace were sending unsolicited bulk email (whatever its content),
>then I would classify them as spammers, pure and simple. Unless I have
>specifically given them my email address precisely for the purpose of
>emailing me for stated reasons, they should not be sending me 'bulk' (in
>the sense that I'm not being treated individually) email for any other
>purpose, and they should not have obtained my email address by any means
>other than from those I have permitted to pass it on (which is none), for
>example.
>
>Sending email, en masse, to ask permission to send further emails is still
>unsolicited bulk email, aka spam. Especially if I never gave 'them' my
>address in the first place to use.
>
>Jethro.
>
>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>Jethro R Binks
>Computing Officer, IT Services
>University Of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
>
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--
Roland Perry
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