Unsolicited emails legal aspect (4)
Hey everyone,
Wanted to hear your opinion on the LEGAL aspects of unsolicited emails..
We all know the ethical aspects, but what about the legal.. There are various b2c providers that not always have consent for data collection nor provide sources for such contacts.
Now you're not allowed to send those contacts emails since there's no consent.
There is a regulative for spam emails for example in Europe is GDPR, Canada CASL etc.. and they all are responsible in cases of braking certain rules/laws..
Since we all work affiliate marketing and we're always around the gray area of things (if not black), I assume you/us have thought of potential issues raised by individuals such as suing you/your company.
I assume most advertisers include email opt-outs and disclaimers, but are you actually avoiding unsolicited emails or trying to 'fly' under the radar?
Cheers
That is a personal risk / reward balance. Everyone has a different level of risk tolerance and law abidance.
I don't think you will have someone openly says on the forum "yeah, i am blasting 4 millions email a day and i couldn't care less", but they exist and they have their infrastructure to do so. So the discussion will be skewed because they are going to stay under the radar and not reply to this thread.
I personally think it really depends on the geo.
Originally Posted by jeremie
Totally understandable that people won't stand out, I'm not trying to expose anyone, but maybe build a certain discussion on the potential repercussions of doing so and ways to stay safe.
Don't know
Maybe I'm asking too much
The situation will be quite similar to let's say image copyright infringement or using celebrity claims... both are punishable by law, but very few people actually get into trouble. The bigger the volume, the bigger the risks. There are people who got into trouble for both and there are people who do this without ever facing issues. In most cases, you get a cease & desist request when breaking copyright or using celebs and that's about it. If you're big enough of a fish, you get sued. Same with email, in most cases you will lose email hosting or get booted from whatever email service you use, when the complaints start in coming... do it on a massive scale and chances are you will make some big fish upset and they will come after you.
Depends on the GEO a lot, especially on the GEO of residence of whoever is sending the emails. Spamming from US is a different situation to spamming from Russia, for example, where nobody gives a fuck
Also depends on what you are mailing out. Cold emailing is frequently used in B2B verticals, for example. Sending a one time email asking for permissions to send more info is acceptable if not even legal in many GEOs. Sending a chain of 20 emails selling some crap is a different story.
Email is a tricky game, even when doin it in a 100% legit way, some people will still complain and report you. But if you have the data to prove you did everything right, you are covered. Sending pure spam is a different story and it comes down to what jeremie posted above:
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