Tue, 2008-08-05
The UK law on Spam permalink
For the benefit of the clueless and wilfully ignorant (Donald Knox-Richards, this means you), the section of Section 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 that regulates the sending of bulk e-mail states:
(3) A person may send or instigate the sending of electronic mail for the purposes of direct marketing where -
(a) that person has obtained the contact details of the recipient of that electronic mail in the course of the sale or negotiations for the sale of a product or service to that recipient;
(b) the direct marketing is in respect of that person's similar products and services only; and
(c) the recipient has been given a simple means of refusing (free of charge except for the costs of the transmission of the refusal) the use of his contact details for the purposes of such direct marketing, at the time that the details were initially collected, and, where he did not initially refuse the use of the details, at the time of each subsequent communication.
My emphasis on the word "and": section (c) applies in
addition to the previous sections, and any bulk marketing e-mail sent to a
UK individual where there is no prior relationship is illegal, whether or
not a means of refusing to be spammed in future is provided.