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I'm shocked that people who regard themselves as technically sophisticated haven't figured out what clicking on an unsubscribe link actually does. 1. In princi
by lutusp 13y ago
I'm shocked that people who regard themselves as technically sophisticated haven't figured out what clicking on an unsubscribe link actually does.
1. In principle and according to Can-Spam, all marketing e-mails should have an unsubscribe link.
2. But clicking on the link doesn't do what you think it does.
3. After you've clicked on advertiser A's link, he can't mail you again (not that some don't cheat and mail again anyway).
4. BUT -- Advertiser A can legally pass his "unsubscribe" list to advertiser B, or make it part of a widely distributed list for use by other advertisers, LEGALLY. Oh -- did I forget to mention that this is legal?
Before Can-Spam, the standard advice was never to reply to a spam e-mail. But for some reason, after Can-Spam, people got the idea that it was their civic duty to click "unsubscribe" links, even though this identifies your e-mail address as read by a human, and thereby makes it a hot property in the spam business.
Why don't people understand that Can-Spam just made things worse, and that otherwise nothing has changed?
- dragonwriter 13y ago> Why don't people understand that Can-Spam just made things worse, CAN SPAM was an unusually honestly named federal law to preempt the restrictive anti-spam measures states were adopting and ensuring that marketers subject to US law can spam consumers. This was widely observed at the time the measure was being considered.
- lutusp 13y ago> This was widely observed at the time the measure was being considered. Indeed it was, even by politicians informed on the issues, but to no effect at all.
- Flenser 13y agoWhile I accept that this may be happening with more disreputable companies it hasn't been my experience. I use unique email addresses for everything I subscribe to or purchase. I've unsubscribed from several marketing mailing lists that I ended up on. The only spam I've received to any of these addresses has been due to data breaches. What companies do you know of that are doing this?