Question regarding Bulk e-mail

[neuroticjester]

Hi all, just wondering if anyone could help me re: bulk email laws within the U.K. I am about to undertake a project where the owner requires a bulk email facility.

My first question is what are the legal aspects of spam in the U.K. I am aware that you cannot send unsolicited email to personal addresses, however i read somewhere that it is ok to send unsolicited email B2B and this is what my client wants to do, can anyone confirm this?

Also I am aware that the person must consent to having their email address on our database and that there MUST be an opt-out link on the email. Are there any other legal requirements regarding a bulk mail list database apart from the 13 or over law?

Also are there any php scripts which can interface with an sql database and send mail to listed addresses?

Also can anyone recomend a good linux\unix php host which will allow bulk mail to be sent?

Please don't think that i am asking for information on how to spam people, this is a very specific, targetted B2B campaign which will be done to every concievable law possible.

Thankyou for any responses.

RAG

[weekender]

not being a cynic here - i know sometimes you just have to do what the client wants - but any good php host won't allow bulk mailing (they'll usually limit the maximum number of emails you can send in an hour)

this is because this kind of behaviour is typical of spammers, and it is not feasable for the host to approve each marketing/sending campaign

i think as far as the law goes, you're on the right track - you have to have peoples consent to store their email address, you have to provide an obvious opt-out procedure and you have to target campaigns to those it may be relevant to - although i can't think of a single email/fax/mail that i've found useful that i didn't sign up for

it's dodgy ground

adam