What is Spam? by John Botscharow Well, that's not any easy question to answer. It all depends on who is doing the defining. Below are several major Internet providers, one's that are very popular. I've also included the definition from the Terms of Service (TOS) of my local ISP, as well as two of the major SPAM watchdogs, the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (CAUCE) and SpamCops. From AOL's Rules of Conduct: "By posting information in or otherwise using any communications service,chat room, message board, news group, software library, or other interactive service that may be available to you on or through this site, you agree that you will not upload, post, or otherwise distribute or facilitate distribution of any content -- including text, communications, software, images, sounds, data, or other information -- that: constitutes unauthorized or unsolicited advertising, junk or bulk e-mail (also known as "spamming"), chain letters, any other form of unauthorized solicitation, or any form of lottery or gambling; You also agree that you will not harvest or collect information about the users or members of this site or use such information for the purpose of transmitting or facilitating transmission of unsolicited bulk electronic e-mail or communications." From Yahoo Terms of Service: "You many not upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation, except in those areas (such as shopping rooms) that are designated for such purpose." From Hotmail's Terms of Service: "You agree to abide by all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations and are solely responsible for all acts or omissions that occur under your account or password, including the content of your transmissions through the Service. By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree not to: Use the Service in connection with surveys, contests, pyramid schemes, chain letters, junk email, spamming or any duplicative or unsolicited messages (commercial or otherwise). Advertise or offer to sell or buy any goods or services for any non-personal purpose. Harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including email addresses, without their consent. Create a false identity for the purpose of misleading others as to the identity of the sender or the origin of a message." From my ISP's Terms of Service: "The customer agrees to refrain from inappropriate or multiple postings of the same message ("spamming"). The customer agrees to refrain from sending mass, unsolicited e-mail messages. The customer agrees to post advertisements only in areas that specifically encourage or allow advertising. The customer agrees to respect the conventions of news groups, mailing lists and networks to which the customer is posting, including those more restrictive than, but not limited to the above. Complaints received regarding non-compliance will be treated as grounds for termination or suspension of the customer's account" From CAUCE's Web site: "Junk Email "We all get junk mail at home. It's an accepted fact of life, at least in the U.S. So why is Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) -a/k/a "spam" or "junk email" -- a problem? "To understand the problem of UCE, you must first understand what is most often advertised via UCE. There are many places on the Internet where copies of UCE are re posted by recipients and system administrators in order to help notify the Internet community about where UCE is originating. Surveying mailing lists like SPAM-L@EVA.DC.LSOFT.COM and USENET news groups in the news.admin.net-abuse.* hierarchy, you will see that there are very few reputable marketers using UCE to advertise goods and services. To the contrary, the most commonly seen UCEs advertise: "Chain letters Pyramid schemes (including Multilevel Marketing, or MLM) Other "Get Rich Quick" or "Make Money Fast" (MMF) schemes "Offers of phone sex lines and ads for pornographic web sites "Offers of software for collecting e-mail addresses and sending UCE "Offers of bulk e-mailing services for sending UCE "Stock offerings for unknown start-up corporations "Quack health products and remedies "Illegally pirated software ("Warez")" From SpamCops web site: "What do I need to know to get started reporting spam? First of all, you should know the difference between spam and email that is not spam. "Not all bulk/commercial email is spam. Bulk email can be split into two categories: Opt-in and Opt-out. Opt-in is email that you requested (or at least agreed to receive), and this is what legitimate bulk emailers use (microsoft, deja.com, etc.) Opt-out is a system whereby the sender finds your address in some nefarious way(harvesting addresses from web-sites or public discussion forums), then asks you to request removal if you do not want to receive email. Most people find opt-out email to be offensive and classify it as spam. "Legitimate" looking spam "In general, email from reputable companies, such as Microsoft and Amazon are opt-in, and if you receive email purporting to be from a company you would normally consider to be legitimate, you should consider carefully the possibility that you did agree to receive it sometime in the past. If you are sure you did not, then it may be someone attempting to appear to be a representative of the company in question, but who actually does not have the consent of the company. Once in a while, a large, otherwise reputable organization will "accidentally" send out some unsolicited email. The main domain-name registry, Network Solutions, is a notable example of this. It has in the past sent outright spam and has been widely criticized for this action among spam-fighters. In any case, if you are sure that you did not request the email, then you are well within your rights to report it as spam. "Hoaxes and form letters "Often, people receive email warning them of a dire threat due to new viruses or offering amazing rewards for continuing a chain letter. Even innocent seeming emails like petitions can circulate for years. Any email asking you to make and distribute copies of it should be viewed very skeptically. However, this type of email is not normally considered spam. Usually the sender is an acquaintance - not someone you want to report as a spammer. It is much better to simply reply to these "clueless newbies" and explain the situation to them - "this email is a hoax, please don't send me this type of thing" - or whatever applies. Be sure to reply only to the sender of the email, not to the sender and all the other recipients as well." As you can see, the definitions vary greatly. They are also vague and open to interpretation. AOL and MSN/Hotmail have the strictest interpretations of all Internet providers. SpamCops has an extremely restrictive definition - be very careful when dealing with them. Too many ISPs will terminate your service without ANY opportunity for you to explain or defend yourself. Make sure you READ your ISP TOS carefully. If you have any questions or are unsure how they interpret SPAM, talk to the manager of your ISP. Many of them are reasonable and will work with you. (A personal suggestion from experience: most of the major Web-based e-mail accounts are NOT conducive to doing business via e-mail. They will close your account without explanation and trying to contact them to discuss the matter is a waste of time. Stay away from them. There are some that are good for small businesses - if you want some recommendations, contact me at john@3r-marketing.com.) The most important point about all of this is that there is NO consistent definition of what constitutes SPAM. e-Crucible is working on a very detailed definition of what constitutes Spam. We will lay out explicit and clear rules of what type of commercial e-mail should be acceptable. We will work with the major Internet providers as well as smaller ISPs to persuade them ALL to accept one UNIVERSAL definition of SPAM that cannot be misinterpreted by ANYONE!
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John Botscharow is co-publisher and editor of the Web Street Journal. He is also one of the partners in 3 R Marketing. Visit them at http://www.3r-marketing.com and subscribe to one or more of their marketing newsletters. This article is Copyrighted 2000 by 3 R Marketing. It may be reprinted in its entirety only and with the above source box attached. This article provided by the Marketing-Seek Archives at: http://www.Marketing-Seek.com |