dovecot - May 2012 - BEWARE: This list is being harvested for leads

I personally didn't mind a one-time notice from the dev's team that that
are now offering paid commercial support. What if I WANTED it? I felt like it
was a courtesy email from them to let me know that it's available.

If those emails continue unsolicited, then it may start to feel like spam to me,
but this did not.

In general, I've actually been looking for ways to financially support good
open source projects. I have worked with many & find that oftentimes, the
ones with hood commercial support tend to be ones that have the manpower
resources needed to quickly fix bugs, patch vulnerabilities, maintain a strong
development schedule & give decent support through mailing lists &
similar means.

So when I received the email, immediately I thought: "Hmm. This may come in
handy down the road, and would serve two purposes by giving me an easily
justifiable means to support the project".

That is all.

-
Doug Mortensen
impalanetworks.com
Sent from my Windows Phone
________________________________
From: Giles Coochey
Sent: 5/17/2012 9:33 AM
To: dovecot at dovecot.org
Subject: Re: [Dovecot] BEWARE: This list is being harvested for leads

On 17/05/2012 16:20, Dennis Guhl wrote:
> On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 10:56:50AM -0400, Charles Marcus wrote:
>> On 2012-05-17 10:20 AM, dovecot-20120517 at billmail.scconsult.com
wrote:
>>> On 17 May 2012, at 9:46, Charles Marcus wrote:
>>>> Tim is working closely with Timo, and I'm sure got
Timo's permission
>>>> to send that email to list subscribers.
>>> I subscribed to the Dovecot Users mailing list, not "Whatever
spam
>>> Timo thinks is justifiable."
>> I'm about ready to add you to my PLONK file Bill.
>>
>> That is ridiculous... if a formal announcement about a commercial
>> support company that has Timo's blessing isn't pertinent to
>> participants on the dovecot support list, then what is?
> I did not received this mail so I can't comment on the appearance but
> I would not be happy to receive any unrequested commercial offers,
> irrelevant which form it comes along.
>
> I can understand Timo's desire to acquire as much paying customers as
> possible, but in this case he should at least have announced --
> publicly -- what he plans to do and how to opt out.
>
> Such 'ideas' are a sure way to kill all the good reputation, which
is
> crucial for open source projects. And, not to forget, it can lead to
> some nasty legal problems. Such forms of email marketing are at least
> in the EU and US prohibited.
>
>> Just admit you made a silly mistake and move on...
> The only silly mistake was this answer of yours.
>
> Dennis
[sarcasm on]
No, I think we should lock Tim & Timo up and force Timo to eat lentils
while he codes his IMAP server for us. It's incredibly astounding that
he should even need to be involved in a business where he makes money
developing my free IMAP server software!!!
[sarcasm off]

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 09:47:23AM -0600, Douglas Mortensen
wrote:
> I personally didn't mind a one-time notice from the dev's team that
> that are now offering paid commercial support. What if I WANTED it?
There might be a lot of people who did not mind one offlist contact to
a list address, but on the other side there will also be the fraction
saying no, I subscribed to a mailing list and not to a marketing list.
> I felt like it was a courtesy email from them to let me know that
> it's available.
The company was announced onlist sometimes around this time last year
after Timo unofficially announced the company during a talk at the
mailserver conference in Berlin.
> If those emails continue unsolicited, then it may start to feel like
> spam to me, but this did not.
Obviously you are more tolerant in this regard then I would be.
> In general, I've actually been looking for ways to financially
> support good open source projects. I have worked with many & find
No question, but the way and form should be considered.

Dennis

[..]

Even with "good intent" the message in question is clearly in
violation
of CAN-SPAM and Cal. Bus. Prof. Code Sec. 17529, of which the sender was 
informed of when my server was accessed. It was very clearly an 
"electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial 
advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service." The 
sender did not have my direct consent to deliver such messages, nor did 
they have a preexisting business relationship with me.

There was no notification that subscribing to this list would result in 
off-list commercial messages. There is no way to opt out of these 
messages. The message in question did not conform to the requirements of 
CAN-SPAM in regard to, at least:
* Identifying the message as an advertisement
* Including the valid physical postal address of the sender, recognized 
by the US Postal Service
* Providing an opt-out mechanism (at all in this case), compliant with 
the CAN-SPAM requirements

Yes, in this particular instance I found the content to be not 
distasteful; however is is very clearly "spam" as legally defined in
the
US and in California.