[Asrg] FeedBack loops

[Ian Eiloart]

--On 14 November 2008 06:14:02 -0800 SM <sm at resistor.net> wrote:

>> It's a legal requirement in the UK that unsolicited marketing
>> messages (which here include messages promoting the aims of
>> non-profit organisations, perhaps including ASRG) should include a
>> simple method of unsubscribing. I'd argue that this list doesn't,
>> even though an address is provided in the footer, it isn't described
>> as an unsubscription address.
>
> This message has a List-Unsubscribe header.  The use of that header is
> documented.  I'd say that this list does provide a means to unsubscribe.
> I agree that the footer cannot be described as an unsubscription address.

Well, the question is how you define the word "simple". It isn't there by 
accident. The word "should" is an error. It's a requirement, so I should 
have said "must".

For users of this list, we'd hope that you're correct. The mechanism may be 
simple enough, and there's the link to the web page in the footer.

For users of any list that is NOT for people with an expertise in email, 
you'd have to provide a mechanism that an ordinary person found simple. By 
analogy, as easy to use as the brake pedal in a car.

I'd argue that the message header is not a simple mechanism, because most 
email clients don't expose it. I also think that the link to 
<https://www.irtf.org/mailman/listinfo/asrg> would not qualify because:
(a) my browser tells me that the web page is not secure (the security 
certificate isn't valid for the host name)
(b) the unsubscribe section is at the foot of the page
(c) I have to remember which address I subscribed with
(c) I have to wait for a confirmation message to complete the 
unsubscription.



The exact wording of the requirement is at paragraph 22.(3)(c) of the UK's 
Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003:

(c) the recipient has been given a SIMPLE MEANS OF REFUSING (free of charge 
except for the costs of the transmission of the refusal) the use of his 
contact details for the purposes of such direct marketing, at the time that 
the details were initially collected, and, where he did not initially 
refuse the use of the details, AT THE TIME OF EACH SUBSEQUENT COMMUNICATION.

<http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2003/20032426.htm>

-- 
Ian Eiloart
IT Services, University of Sussex
x3148