Re:Tell HN: After 10 years of experiments, custom username e...
by denton-scratch on Tuesday August 16, 2022 @02:50AM
(#32479908)
> In the EU, spam has been long defined as unsolicited commercial communications
True. But spam has existed since long before EU regulators got interested; one type of spam that isn't covered by the EU rules is political spam. At one time I used to get a lot of political spam from US politicians and parties. I've never been a US citizen, and I don't get to vote in US elections - these politicians were spamming mailing lists.
The EU rules specifically exclude spam that isn't trying to sell you something for money. Why? Possibly because the rules are made by politicians, who prefer that their own spam isn't included.
At least in the EU, if you make a complaint, it falls on the sender to assert the legal basis for sending the email, so it's on them to prove informed consent (if that's the basis they're relying on).
> That's why it's important that spam continues to be defined as Unsolicited Bulk Email.
I'm not sure you've made the case that's important. In the EU, spam has been long defined as unsolicited commercial communications (since the E-privacy Directive in 2002) - no requirement for it to be in bulk.