----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Hatcher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2001 8:04 PM
> The lack of ethics is entirely with the parties doing the spamming. The
> Whois databases are freely available public records. Bulk access to the
> Whois information may make spamming more convenient, but even if if there
I disagree.
It is an accepted fact that the only correct, ethical and acceptable means of
conducting commercial email campaigns is permission based, opt-in email.
When I register a domain, I am certainly not thereby giving permission for my
email address, provided for domain administration purposes only, to be used for
commercial email purposes.
Your analogy, with respect, is not much better than saying that because there
are spamware CD's being touted out there, with millions of email addresses
illicitly scraped from websites etc., and which includes the latest version of
direct to MX spam-o-matic program, we should have to put up with it because our
email address was publicly available and makes spamming more convenient.
If this data is to be continued to be made available by registrars, then, when
registering an email address against a domain registration, we should be asked
whether we expressly consent to that email address being sold, or otherwise made
available to third parties for commercial purposes.
IMO - ICANN are setting an exceptionally bad precedent here, and should think
again.
Adrian Cooper.
