Marketing
‘Be it opt-in or opt-out, the quality of contact lists is the key,’ said Saratoga Technologies UK managing director Wayne Harris

“The better categorized, the more targeted emailing, the higher the return rate,” he added.

Currently, the UK follows an opt-in system, meaning companies can not send you marketing emails unless you agree to receive them while the US and Japan practice the opposite.

Interestingly, Taiwan is trying to adopt an eclectic approach of “implicit rejection”. Under the draft legislation, companies are allowed to send an unsolicited email to any individual just once. If there is no reply from the receiver, silence means disapproval.

There is a reason for that approach. The government wants to protect people’s privacy without stifling the growth of e-commerce, with provisos that clear and free opt-out mechanisms should be in place and that words such as “advertisement” should be clearly labelled in the subject header. Advertisers will be held accountable if the emails they send or those they commission other companies to send do not comply with the law.

Where could spam come from if not just from spammers?

Not all spam emails are unsolicited. This oxymoron can be true if you do not read small print carefully before signing anything.

“Many people who sign up for products or services may not realise they are also opting in or giving their rights away to companies that can then sell their email addresses,” said Bournemouth University business school head of knowledge transfer Geoffrey Darnton.

Legitimate commercial bulk emails aside, a large percentage of unsolicited emails we get daily involves illegal content and unlawful processing of personal data. In some cases it is even possible that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) collude with spammers and sign what is known as a “pink contract”, allowing them to spam in ISPs’ own network. The name derives from the colour of spam food.

Find out what ISPreview says about pink contracts.