So, I'm sat here, Sunday evening thinking about activities for next year and I've got banging around in my head that I'm going to do a spot of mail-merging.
Oh, but wait - isn't that the same as spamming? Uhh, no - that's advertising. Surely?
Let's compare. I'm sending out unsolicited information to people I don't know advertising my services. Can't tell whether I'm talking about sending a letter or an email, can you?
So how is it, I could get locked up for sending out a half-million unsolicited emails, but no-one thinks twice about prosecuting the thousands of spammers who dump unsolicited flyers into my postal mailbox year in, year out?
The difference? Well, obviously it comes down to money.
You pay to send mail. You pay 51cents here in Canada for a regular letter, and Canada Post must just be loving it that companies use it's door-to-door service to carry their spam. Millions of either addressed letters from banks you don't want to save with, or the even more irritating 'unaddressed' letter-mail where they'll merrily stuff any old companies crap directly to your door? How is that not spamming? And where is the 'unsubscribe me' information?
Seems to me that people who spam via email are doing nothing different, the difference being that the postal services of the world don't see a dime, and neither do the governments, and that must just drive them nuts. How dare they communicate with potential clients for free. How dare they make a profit on return rates that would get heads of traditional marketing departments fired!
How is it everyone cries out for spam-houses to be closed on the internet, but the very governments that are trying to kill email spam don't go after their recently and very profitably privatized mail services?
In this eco-conscious world, shouldn't we be prosecuting the Citi-Banks of the world who regularly send me applications for credit-cards I don't want and contain no less than 40g of fine paper that's been coated with lovely environment dissolving solvent inks? Oh no, wait - we can't do that, since that creates 'employment' and email spam doesn't.
Seems like a bit of a double-standard to me. Either it is fine to send someone stuff they don't want, or it isn't. It can't be acceptable to spam provided you pay through the nose for it - either via mail or fax, but that it's not groovy if it's for fractions of a cent as an email.
So postulte this. If each of those irritating emails you get advertising prescription meds was individually typed by someone, and they were being paid a fair wage with respect to their local economy - would we still be screaming out to have it stamped (ha ha - punn there!) out? No - probably not. We'd whine and complain, but probably not do anything because we know some effort went into it. When we know it's a machine mass emailing, then we get all hot and bothered.
Seems we've got it round the wrong way...
Love me,
