Slashdot Mirror
European Union Says No To Spam
Peter Dyck writes: "CNN reports that the Council of Ministers of the European Union (EU) has agreed on Thursday to pass a new law banning the use of unsolicited e-mail. The resolution also bans the so-called inertia marketing for the promotion of financial services. This means that within the 15 EU member-states companies cannot resort anymore to direct marketing to sell their wares. Marketing is still possible, but the consumers must opt-in for it first." However, this is just one bend in a long and bureaucratic road.
The worst terrorist attacks in recorded history occurred less than 3 weeks ago, and you people are discussing SPAM? My *god*, people, GET SOME PRIORITIES!
;-(
Do you really think the 6000+ innocent dead would be concerned about fucking SPAM? You people make me sick.
Since EU are socialists, they're not exactly a fan of capitalism and all. Did it influence the decision?
Has anyone considered the effects that blocking all UCE will have on eCommerce in the EU. I would imagine that if on-line merchants are prohibited from advertising, their business would drop signifigantly.
Also, how are they defining SPAM? Used properly, e-mail can be a legitimate and effective means of marketing. I'd hate to see legitimate marketers such as myself be prohibited from advertising in Europe. I run a multi-level business that uses targeted e-mail messages as it's means of communication with potential customers. I'd like to think that upstanding businessmen such as myself would not be penalised for our perfectly legal business tactics.
No one who values freedom should be celebrating this. Yes, spam is annoying. But do you really want the government telling you who you can send e-mail to? Good god, many of you people freak when the government gets close to tracking your toilet usage, but if it comes to restricting your right to send e-mail, it's "GO GO GO"!
There are ways to solve the spam problem without restricting freedom. Requiring a tag on the e-mail would be a great start, either by putting something in the subject line or adding a line to the header information.
But dammit, I don't want the government telling me who I can and can't e-mail to!
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Why were you searching for "Jon Katz", "Pederast" or "15-year-old boys"? Good thing you posted that as AC rather than logged on, mate!