-----Original Message----- From: anti-abuse-wg-bounces@ripe.net [mailto:anti-abuse-wg- bounces@ripe.net] On Behalf Of Joe St Sauver Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 10:47 PM To: thor.kottelin@turvasana.com Cc: anti-abuse-wg@ripe.net
Thor commented:
#Email spam is universally defined as unsolicited bulk email. It must be #extremely rare for someone to join an anti-abuse *working* group without #knowing basic concepts such as this one.
Actually, the question of "what's spam?" can be surprisingly tricky when things like national and local legislation gets factored in
Yes. As an example, Finland's principal anti-spam law (the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications, 516/2004) applies only to marketing, not to e.g. political or religious advocacy. In addition, it is legally permissible here to spam legal persons that have not specifically opted out. Although these provisions do not imply that email messages may not be legally rejected by, or on behalf of, the intended recipient, national quirks may have to be considered when spam control measures are implemented in each nation. However, this working group and the numerous other organisations that combat email abuse internationally need a common definition of what constitutes email spam, and such a definition we do have. -- Thor Kottelin http://www.anta.net/