Jim Reid wrote on 12/11/2021 12:23:
I’m not sure it is. Even so, I think the “welcome to the list” email -- which I’m sure everyone keeps forever -- includes info on how to subscribe/unsuscribe, change preferences, etc. IMO that should take care of GDPR concerns.
Now that I'm sitting firmly in my armchair. My understanding is that GDPR has general applicability in terms of whether the organisation can maintain the data subject's email address on an emailing subscription list. If the data subject requests removal, this needs to be acted on. From a practical point of view, having a pile of headers is no use because most MUAs don't display headers. Some do, and offer and "unsubscribe" option based on the content of these headers. An easy, practical option here is be to append unsubscribe info on emails sent to the list. It helps people who aren't familiar with rfc2822 email format, which is to say many people. Some people don't like when mailing lists have unsubscribe footers. It is a minor annoyance, but this battle was lost years ago. Nick