To quickly follow up, before the thread gets presumably closed for being
way off topic:
Patrick H. Lauke wrote:
The Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC)
<http://www.dti.gov.uk/industries/ecommunications/directive_on_privacy_electronic_communications_200258ec.html>
"extends controls on unsolicited direct marketing to all forms of
electronic communications including unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE
or Spam) and SMS to mobile telephones; UCE and SMS will be subject to a
prior consent requirement
That seems to be an interesting distinction to the EC directive: it only
mentions prior consent, not necessarily an opt-in.
According to law firm Pinsent Masons' article
<http://www.out-law.com/page-5657> (free reg required)
"Consent by definition requires some sort of positive action on behalf
of the recipient. However, it is a widely held misconception in data
protection terms that consent requires that the user "opts-in" to their
data being used. Prior consent does not mean the same thing as "opt-in".
[...]
"Prior consent", however, does not specify any particular means of
assessing the user's intention. Therefore, while opt-in is one way of
demonstrating a user's consent, it is not the only way.
Another equally acceptable practice would be to collect the customer's
details, at the same time presenting them with a data protection notice
which is drafted to state that by providing their details the user
consents to the receipt of unsolicited marketing emails. Key to this is
the way in which the consent statement is drafted. It must be a positive
statement, the effect of which is to be considered as positive consent
by the user.
At the same time the user must be provided with an opportunity to
opt-out of their details being used for this method. The best way of
achieving this is to include an opt-out tick box as a part of the data
protection notice."
--
Patrick H. Lauke
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