What is the real
definition of SPAM? Information on SBL, the
'Spamhaus Block List': Click Here
The
Definition of Spam according to Spamhaus
The word "Spam" as applied to E-Mail means
Unsolicited Bulk
E-Mail, otherwise known as "UBE."
Unsolicited means that the Recipient has not
granted verifiable permission for the message to be sent. Bulk means
that the message is sent
as part of a larger collection of messages, all having substantively
identical content.
A message is
Spam only if it is both Unsolicited and Bulk.
Unsolicited E-Mail is
normal e-mail.
(Examples: first
contact enquiries, job enquiries, and sales enquiries)
Bulk
E-Mail is normal e-mail.
(Examples:
subscriber newsletters, customer communications, discussion lists)
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Technical
Definition of Spam
An electronic message is "spam" IF:
1. The
recipient's personal
identity and context are irrelevant because the message is equally
applicable to many other potential recipients.
AND
2. The
recipient
has not verifiably
granted deliberate, explicit, and still-revocable permission for it to
be sent.
Spam is an issue about consent, not content.
Whether
the UBE message is an advert, a scam, porn, a begging letter or an
offer of a free lunch, the content is irrelevant - if the message was
sent unsolicited and in bulk then the message is spam.
Spam is not a
sub-set of
UBE, it is not "UBE that
is also a scam or that doesn't contain an unsubscribe link", all e-mail
sent unsolicited and in bulk is Spam.
This
distinction is
important because legislators
spend inordinate amounts of time attempting to regulate the content of
spam messages, and in doing so come up against free speech issues,
without realizing that the spam issue is solely about the delivery
method.
Important
facts
relating to this definition:
1. The sending of Unsolicited Bulk E-Mail
("UBE") is banned by the vast majority of Internet Service Providers
worldwide.
2.
Spamhaus'
anti-spam blacklist, used
by more than 260 million Internet Users to reject e-mails identified as
spam, is based on the internationally-accepted definition of Spam as
"Unsolicited Bulk E-Mail." Therefore anyone sending UBE on the
Internet, whether the content is commercial or not, illegal or not,
needs to be fully aware that (1) they will lose their Internet access
if they send UBE, (2) they will be placed on the Spamhaus Block List
(SBL) if they send UBE.
Various
jurisdictions have
implemented legislation
to control what they call "spam". One particular example is US S.877
(CANSPAM 2004). Each law addresses "spam" in different ways, and as a
consequence, often has different definitions of what they cover,
whether they call it "spam" or not. Spamhaus uses the industry standard
"unsolicited bulk e-mail" definition which underlines "it's not about
content, it's about consent". As such, arguments as to whether UBE
messages are covered under CANSPAM or are compliant with CANSPAM, are
entirely irrelevant.
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