In short, stop using SPAM to mean "unwanted promotional email from a company I signed up with and have or have had in the recent past a business relationship with." They aren't the same thing, and don't deserve the same response.
It doesn't matter if I have a business relationship with the company. A 'business relationship' is what keeps them from violating the laws related to spam, but it's still spam.
Only when I purposefully and explicitly tell a company to put me on a mailing list is it not spam. If I'm making an account for other purposes it's not the same thing. If I make a purchase it's definitely not the same thing.
The CAN-SPAM Act defines commercial messages as those
that primarily advertise or promote a commercial product or
service. The FCC’s ban does not cover “transactional or
relationship” messages -- that is, notices to facilitate a
transaction you have already agreed to -- for example,
messages that provide information about your existing
account or warranty information about a product you’ve
purchased.
If you don't want that, opt out.
If you don't like how they handled the email process, complain to the company.
If you still don't like it, stop using the service.
Anything else just means that they have no way of notifying you about anything unless you visit their site. In some cases, I sure as hell want to know if they are offering free services or other promotions. In others, I opt out.
>If you have an account with them, and it's informational, even if it's just about a new service you can take advantage on that account you already have, they can contact you about it.
They can but they shouldn't unless I asked.
> If you don't want that, opt out.
If it's opt-out then the company loses a lot of points.
> If you don't like how they handled the email process, complain to the company.
Even better, I can warn potential customers about the way the company acts.
> If you still don't like it, stop using the service.
See above.
> Anything else just means that they have no way of notifying you about anything unless you visit their site. In some cases, I sure as hell want to know if they are offering free services or other promotions. In others, I opt out.
They can notify me all they want about the actual transactions I am performing with them, monetary or other. But when it comes to solicitation they should have a very explicit opt-in process.
The truth is I think we are probably that far apart in what we believe is acceptable. I think that having all communications not specifically pertaining to an actual transaction on an existing account be opt-in explicitly is unworkable, but only slightly. I think it's great in theory, but that it breaks down in the face of reality and what people find they really want and find acceptable.
Really my point here is to fight back against people re-labeling "unwanted commercial emails from companies I do business with" as spam, as unwanted is not the same as unsolicited.
I've fought the real battle here; I was an admin at an ISP and maintained mail servers, dealt with spam filters, deployed new spam solutions, and had to deal with the constant misuse of the system to send spam through compromised accounts. Having people use the label of spam just to pull along the emotional reaction of the reader really seems to get me worked up.
You usually only find out they are spammers after you sign up though? At which point, even if I leave the service, I still have to deal with the spam.