Most marketing e-mail IS spam - unsolicited, commercial e-mail - and I wish the relevant bodies would teach their memebrs what spam actually is! Most marketers don't realise that what they do is spam, and that most of us are sick of it, and that it's illegal in terms of the ECT Act.
SPAM may be a pain, but its is not illegal by Davy
Sadly, true spam is not illegal. The ECT Act only makes it illegal to not honor unsubscribe requests. Accordingly it is not illegal to send unsolicited email marketing messages. For ethical marketers this is a fair compromise between the rights of privacy and business. Regrettably the law has no teeth in respect of spammers who ignore unsubscribe requests either out of ignorance or design. The Direct Marketing Association created a code of practice for email marketing years ago, as well as a guide to ethical data usage and respect for the privacy of individuals. The mfsa inherited the codes and I am sure encourages its members to adhere to them. The SA Law Commission is currently developing a more effective privacy legislative regime and it will be interesting to see the outcome - marketers are represented on the commission by a highly competent ex-DMA director and now mfsa director.
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Time to get educated guys.