SPAM is a two-edged sword

[Lance Jordan <lancejor () RCI RUTGERS EDU>]

Greetings to all from NJ.  (Summer weather has finally reached the
Garden State and I left my shorts and flip flops at home.)   :-)

The dilemma of dealing with SPAM.  Has anyone come across this
situation?  If so, how did you handle it?

The issue:  We have a department within the university that is a
self-supporting organization with the mission to provide management
instruction and outreach to the state.  The department wants to market
its services via email to a larger audience than just alumni or former
students of their programs.  They intend to purchase email lists from 3d
party vendors.  (Meaning they will be sending email to persons with no
affiliation with the university)

The university already has an anti-SPAM policy.  Basically, sending the
same email message to more than 50 addresses is considered a violation,
unless sent via a mechanism like "listserv" where the users can control
their participation.

One the one hand this department needs to be competitive and they do
provide a valuable service to the local community and state.  On the
other hand we view SPAM as an unethical practice and with enough
complaints the university can be "blacklisted."

Thanks in advance.  Your feedback is appreciated.

--

Lance D. Jordan

Director, Information Protection & Security

Rutgers University Computing Services

(Voice) 732-445-8138           (Fax) 732-445-8023




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