What you need to know about email spam and the law in South Africa.

What is spam? Spam is that awful food made from mystery meat,ham,beef or anything else they can throw in the tin and call it food.  As a result this term has become synonymous with junk mail. The official definition in most countries is any mail, virtual email or physical (the rubbish that fills up your mail box that you throw away without opening) that you did not ask to be sent to you.

Is it Possible For Spam to Be Useful?

Spam is a curse but it is useful, when you are getting spammed it means your web site is being found!  How you manage the spam can be up to you. Technically it can be challenging if you do not understand how that works, simple techniques often work well.  Never leave your email address in the format you@annyaddresses.com in an open format is one such.

The Legal Stuff

In many countries spam or the propogation of spam is highly illegal!  USA,UK are just two examples.South Africa has its own act which says that the user has to opt-in before the email can be sent. Some unscrupulous companies in South Africa forget that the law is for everybody and often spam/ send unrequested emails. It won’t be long foor the auuthorities to realise that this is costing the economy millions in lost revenue.

In other countries the risk is much higher that they will take you to court (even if you do not live there). The simple rule is get the user to choose to sign up, no more, no less.

Opting In Vs Opting Out

Get the user to OPT IN and that means they have to click on a confirmation email before you send any news, infomercials or the like. The opt-in means the user haas to choose to get your emails and as a safety precaution to protect yourself and your company you should always send a confirmation message.