Aaron Pratt, a clever Gmail tester, is starting a project to study the strength of Gmail's spam filters and figure out how long it takes to fill a Gmailbox. His website proclaims:Spam my shiny new G-mail account at prattboy@gmail.com Give my address to spammers, newsletters, annoying people, whatever...
But can he even legally do this? By declaring on a webpage (which may have not even been put up by him) that he wants mail from annoying people, is that enough to meet "opt-in" spam legislation? This particular user is American, and CAN-SPAM is an opt-out regulation, which lets anyone send him anything until he opts out (update: see how he might consent using CAN-SPAM here)(except illegally labeled explicit spam, of course), but this isn't true elsewhere...
Australia would require a user to consent, which means "
(a) express consent; or
(b) consent that can reasonably be inferred from:
(i) the conduct; and
(ii) the business and other relationships;
of the individual or organisation concerned." If not for the harvesting provisions, I would say that even posting a Gmail account makes a good case for "inferred consent," which could be horribly abused. In any case, anybody saying that spam is ok at this address seems fine, even if they were wrong.At least Australia's definition is better than Ireland's: ""consent" by a user or subscriber means a data subject�s consent in accordance with the Acts and these Regulations." Got it. Consent means consent. Looks like it's pretty easy to consent to your (or someone else's) e-mail address being spammed.You could probably even argue coherently that as long as this blanket approval is up, an opt-out is not binding in any regulatory scheme. So you annoying people just have to make sure your labels are on properly.
Pratt has gotten plenty of help testing the filter with subject lines like "Sexy girls offer mortgages for your viagra;" he claims that ADV: does not trigger the spam filter, and it is about 25% accurate.
**Update** See how Pratt's consent might work under CAN-SPAM!
For more international spam law, see the Spam Laws Worldwide Index.