On 02/06/2018 07:43 PM, jdow wrote:
On 20180206 16:56, Miles Fidelman wrote:
On 2/6/18 2:47 PM, Anne P. Mitchell Esq. wrote:
I know the definition of spam is very subjective and dependent on
your particular the mail flow along with the expectations of the
recipients.
Back when I was in-house counsel at MAPS, Paul (Vixie) and I came up
with this definition of spam:
“An electronic message is “spam” IF: (1) the recipient’s personal
identity and context are
irrelevant because the message is equally applicable to many other
potential recipients;
AND (2) the recipient has not verifiably granted deliberate,
explicit, and still-revocable
permission for it to be sent; AND (3) the transmission and reception
of the message
appears to the recipient to give a disproportionate benefit to the
sender.”
I think that it still holds up.
Not bad at all. Actually, quite good!
(Of course, the old definition of pornography also holds: "I know it
when I see it." :-)
Miles Fidelman
"Spam is email *I* don't want to see and never asked for."
Hypothetical question: If you signed up for a new account on a website
and they had a small checkbox that was enabled to receive emails from
them and you didn't see it to uncheck it, when you get an email from
them a month later, is that spam?
Technically, you asked for the email and they have a valid opt-out
process that will stop sending you email. Yes, the site has scummy
practices but that is not spam by my definition.
Users often sign up for things and then a few months or years later they
no longer want it so they call it spam. That is unwanted ham and not
spam by my definition.
--
David Jones
