Re: legitimate unsolicited commercial e-mail vs spam

From: Jim Novo <jimnovo_at_sprintmail.com>
Date: Wed 3 Nov 1999 20:03:23 -0500

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).


And various people responded with a lot of, well....

I'd like to propose a scenario and see if I can get any
positive suggestions from the group on how to handle it.


Let's say the State of Florida is thinking of creating an
agency to help support or define various Internet issues.
They have a list of proposed issues and ideas, and are
looking for comments and reactions from the Internet
community *in Florida* on the possible effects of these
issues.

They very much want comment from every business involved in
the Internet in Florida, and in particular, from small
businesses, because they feel it will be a most sensitive
issue with the smalls. They have a very small budget for
this item, since the audience is limited.

There is no newsletter or web site for small Internet biz in
Florida. No effective way to target them with Internet
advertising. The State has never collected e-mail
addresses on business registrations, and they have no
"Internet" category defined, so they have no database they
can use, even for snail mail.

The idea doesn't have any pull in the press. It's too small
and not really a story, since nothing has really happened
yet, and the State would really like to collect some input
before "going public" with it.

The yellow pages outfit serving Florida has a web based
version online, and many of the small biz listed in the
directory have contact info, including e-mail address. These
people are advertising their e-mail addresses in an online
commercial format, under the heading "Internet", presumably
to solicit Internet related business from people they don't
know.

The State is, however, aware that grabbing these e-mail
addresses and mailing their notice might be considered
"spam", and they don't want to offend these people they very
much want to get an opinion from.

Another option would be to do what the State usually does -
take out small print ads in barely read legal notice papers
and request comment. They won't get nearly as much
feedback, but they might get some from the people who read
the paper (mostly lawyers).


What should they do?




Received on Wed Nov 03 1999 - 19:03:23 CST