Originally Posted by PR_Tom

There is a legal definition for "spam". Anyone working for any program that doesn't realise this should be fired immediately IMHO.

If you acquire an email list legally and each person on the list has explicitely agreed to accept advertising sent to the address then that's absolutely FINE. That's called email marketing by the way. It's perfectly legal and legitimate although many people, from ignorance, complain that it's "spam" when in FACT it's not if they signed up for it.

"spamming is advertising" is like saying "theft is earning".