Re: legitimate unsolicited commercial e-mail vs spam

From: Walt Rines <walt_at_gtminet.net>
Date: Fri 29 Oct 1999 11:08:50 -0400

DAVID ROSS WROTE:
> I am writing a paper taking the position that legitimate
> unsolicited commercial e-mail (e.g. business to business, or
> directed at website owners, complying with proposed/actual
> federal and/or state legislation, with easy removal from
> mailing list, etc) should be distinguished from "bad" spam
> (e.g. fake return addresses, pyramid plans, pornography,
> etc.), and should be permitted (if not actually encouraged).

I think I may be uniquely qualified to provide some insight
on this issue. Just do a search on my name in any search
engine. The one thing that needs to be kept in mind is that
in today's climate, you need the recipients permission to
send them commercial material. Not necessarily a request for
the specific information you send, but permission to have
marketing material/ads sent to them by YOU. That is the most
important thing. Secondly, and also important to remember,
is that the ISP who actually provides the Email service has
the right to decide what you can and cannot send. Current
state laws now active in several states including CA and VA
support this right. An ISP can post a policy regarding
commercial solicitations to its users, and marketers are
REQUIRED to observe it. The rationale here is that the ISP
owns the network and resources the marketer uses for
delivery of the ads, not to mention the fact that the user
is actually an asset owned by the ISP. To just be able to
use those resources and assets for free would be like saying
it is OK to hijack a television station's broadcasting
equipment and insert your own commercials.

Our system (Targitmail.com) partners with those ISP's to
gain advertising access via direct Email, and the
subscribers fill out a preferences/demographic profile and
give permission to receive marketing materials from
Targitmail through their ISP. The ISP's use a myriad of
incentives to get them to participate willingly (from
discounts, to free services, to promotions, etc).

I have found this to be the only way to conduct direct Email
marketing in an acceptable fashion, and I have participated
on every level for almost 3 years now, from FTC hearings to
DMA workshops. That is the way it is. The arguments in favor
of unfettered/unregulated commercial Email do not hold
water, and in fact would cause the whole Email system to be
abandoned if implemented. I could go on and on about the
details, suffice it to say I explored every possibility for
some time...learn from my experience!

Walt Rines
President
GTMI, LLC
888-467-7709
603-775-7319 (fax)
www.targitmail.com





Received on Fri Oct 29 1999 - 10:08:50 CDT