Sending emails - Will the ICO be sending you to the naughty step?

On one of the forums that I belong to, a question was recently asked about what is considered a spamming email? The responses were very interesting.There was a lot of discussion about whether you can just add people to your mailing list because they gave you their business card. This really split people into two groups along the lines of "they wouldn't have given you their business card if they didn't want you to stay in touch" and "Just because I gave someone my business card, I wouldn't then expect to be out on their mailing list".

So here is the boring legal bit. Under the PECR (Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations) people must give permission for you to add them to your mailing list, unless they have bought from you previously and the product you are promoting is something similar. If you don't do this and someone complains to the ICO, they could review your data protection practices and send you to the naughty step.

So how do you end up with spam emails? Well, someone you have given permission to have your email address has sold on their list. Yes they should have asked you first but many websites are unclear as to what they are going to do with your information and some companies have no idea that they should be getting your permission first. Many companies are now aware that we hate having our information sold to others and will make a declaration on their website that they never sell or pass on your information. My advice is always be aware when you are providing your email address what it is going to be used for and if it is used for anything else, either unsubscribe or make contact to correct their information.

So back to the business card discussion. Unless at the time you handed over your business card they asked whether you wanted to be on their list (yeah right!) and they noted your permission down, then they shouldn't have added you. More interesting is that the majority of people on the forum said they would unsubscribe immediately if someone did this. Would you?