>>I understand the legislation in the EU is more strict, only allowing mass mailings in certain circumstances, like when there is a former client relationship.
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>That also is not good. How many times have you seen an email saying "Thank you for having registered with us." or "As a long time subscriber..." where this isn't true at all. So, they use it to justify the send and be used later on in case the client says this is not true. So, who would tell the truth.
That's right, laws can be circumvented. Eventually, the law will catch up - hopefully. Anyway, I still believe that the future of the battle against spam is more legal (eventually, on an international level), and less technological.
Although, on the other hand, the problem is getting so much out of proportions, that perhaps eventually ISPs will voluntarily restrict their client's activities (many are doing this already), and block entire ISPs - or even entire countries! - that don't cooperate.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)