| Full text | Click to download. |
| Citation | White paper presented to members of the PORTIA project and the Yale Law School Information Society Project, March 9, 2005
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| Authors | James Grimmelman
Rebecca Bolin |
Though almost everyone agrees spam is bad, even experts disagree about the correct definition of ``spam.'' Common formulations include one or more of the elements ``unsolicited,'' ``commercial,'' ``bulk,'' and ``email.'' But all of these elements create problems for someone, and there seem be examples of communications that are considered ``spam'' despite not satisfying one or more of these elements. While arriving at an exact definition may not be possible, working through the difficulties should at least provide both a better sense of what is objectionable about spam and also a sense of the complexities involved. This paper explores these questions from both legal and technical perspectives.