Regarding the hot topic of recent days, the downsizing of the United States Post Office services. It's hardly a surprise what with the advent of email, instant messaging and a plethora mindless, real time virtual babble sites such as twitter and Facebook. What is a surprise is the post office's response to falling income, namely increasing first class postage. So they raise the price and SOME of the people who still used the mail no longer do and the income drops. So they raise the price and SOME of the people who still used the mail no longer do and the income drops. So they raise the price and SOME of the people who still used the mail no longer do and the income drops. See a pattern here?
But when was the junk mail rates last increased? I know junk mail is by far the largest share of my my mail. And why can junk mail even be sent? Junk mail is sent because it is a profit area for the post office and let me assure you, the minute they figure out how to make money from it, your email will be overrunning with spam.
First, you have to realize that spam is not the same critter as back in the day. The spam railed against all those years ago was not the same protocol as today. Back then, 'email' was a list or group, like Google Groups, so lots of entries did in fact make the system slow down or make it unresponsive. That is no longer the case. So we have a spam law that does not relate to modern day conditions, like the myth of the man walking in front of the car with a lantern.
Ah, you realize, too late, that this rant is really about spam...
Second, let's look at the modern web site. Almost every site has a 'contact' page and on that page there is often an email address. So here is a public web site page named contact which provides me with an email address. If I send an email asking about retaining your services or buying your products, you are happy. If, however, I send an email telling you about my services or product, it's spam and you are not happy. How can this be?
It all boils down to the email being solicited or not. In my opinion, if you're happy with an inquiry and you post your email address on a page called contact, then any email received has been solicited. This is kind of like people who put their life on display on Facebook complaining about the lack of privacy on the web. It is what you make it.
The trump card the web site owner has is that they must 'opt in' to make it all legal. Well, that means that if you email and ask about their services or products, you are sending spam because no one has 'opted in' to receive your email. Remember, it's not how many emails you send, it's whether or not your recipient has agreed to accept them.
What a mess. If you post your email in a public space why is it illegal to send email to that address?
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