Re: Collecting posted addresses

From: Adrian Cooper <adrian_at_cooper.net>
Date: Fri 15 Sep 2000 12:02:12 -0500

PAUL R. BYNUM <pb_at_coldwellbanker.com> WROTE:
> I collect local email addresses of agents from a
> public site (www.Realtor.com), placed on there by
> agents advertising their services. I use this list to
> mail out announcements of local continuing education
> courses they may find of interest. Is this Spam?

It could be spam.

Does the site prominently state that these email
addresses can be used for bulk mailings if disclosed,
and/or provide an option online to opt-out of those
mailings or a facility to indicate that such mailings
are not required? If not, and you send mail to these
addresses - you are indeed spamming - certainly by
definition of blacklisting services such as MAPS who
operate the RBL among other services.

Spam has qualitative as well as quantitative
characteristics - one of which is permission of use -
if you obtain (or scrape is the term) email addresses
from anywhere at all - even your own site - and send
email to those addresses without the owners direct
consent, then you are spamming.

Adrian Cooper.





Received on Fri Sep 15 2000 - 12:02:12 CDT