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FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

(www.ftc.gov)
1737 points pseudolus | 15 comments | 16 Oct 24 13:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.014s | source | bottom
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Uehreka ◴[16 Oct 24 15:57 UTC] No.41860626[source]▶
When people try and say that regulating stuff like this is impossible, I often think about how unreasonably great the regulations around “Unsubscribe” links in emails are.

There really seems to be no loophole or workaround despite there being huge incentive for there to be one. Every time I click an “Unsubscribe” link in an email (it seems like they’re forced to say “Unsubscribe” and not use weasel words to hide the link) I’m either immediately unsubscribed from the person who sent me the email, or I’m taken to a page which seemingly MUST have a “remove me from all emails” option.

The level of compliance (and they can’t even do malicious compliance!) with this is absurd. If these new rules work anything like that, they’ll be awesome. Clearly regulating behavior like this is indeed possible.

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justinpombrio ◴[16 Oct 24 16:43 UTC] No.41861129[source]▶
Unsubscribe links are a fantastic regulation, but there is a workaround. I must have received at least a dozen emails from Brown after graduating despite unsubscribing to every email they sent.

The trouble is they're endlessly creative about the lists they put you on. I'd get one email from "Alumni Connections" and then another from "Faculty Spotlight" and then another from "Global Outreach" and then another from "Event Invitations, 2023 series". I'm making those names up because I forget exactly what they were called, but you get the idea. I hope this was in violation of the regulation: surely you can't invent a new mailing list that didn't used to exist, add me to it, and require me to unsubscribe from it individually.

They finally stopped after I sent them an angry email.

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ksd482 ◴[16 Oct 24 17:21 UTC] No.41861495[source]▶
What I have noticed companies do is resume emails after a year or so. They probably think people would forget about unsubscribing them after a year, and for the most part they are right.

If I catch any of these email lists not respecting my unsubscribing, I immediately mark them as "spam".

Gmail then doesn't send them to my inbox anymore. I don't think just one person marking them as spam hurts them, but at least I feel gratified and my ego is satisfied.

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1. theamk ◴[16 Oct 24 23:21 UTC] No.41864902[source]▶
I go one step further and for the lists which I don't remember subscribing to, I never click "Unsubscribe" - it's "Spam" right away.
replies(4): >>41865523 #>>41865916 #>>41866015 #>>41866375 #
2. forgotoldacc ◴[17 Oct 24 01:17 UTC] No.41865523[source]▶
Same for me. Spam or phishing, depending on how annoyed I am.

Some site I haven't used in 5 years reminding me to login and check out their deals? Sounds like a phishing trap to me.

3. ◴[17 Oct 24 02:36 UTC] No.41865916[source]▶
4. blackeyeblitzar ◴[17 Oct 24 02:55 UTC] No.41866015[source]▶
This is the way. Often times clicking unsubscribe is just sending them a notice that your address is an active inbox. They can abuse that knowledge or resell it. Better to mark as spam.
5. photonthug ◴[17 Oct 24 04:16 UTC] No.41866375[source]▶
Works great except for the gas company, electric and water company, phone company, airlines, cloud provider, os provider, and everyone else that mixes the 5% of legit business that you can’t afford to ignore or miss with the 95% of marketing content that you want to get rid of.

Since it’s usually opaque how “mark as spam” and “block” actually works, and since the origin of the mailing lists can be reconfigured any time.. I still feel like I’m endlessly spammed by all the assholes I have to do business with, or else I’m going to miss a bill or a flight.

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6. ◴[17 Oct 24 05:13 UTC] No.41866610[source]▶
7. mrgaro ◴[17 Oct 24 06:07 UTC] No.41866855[source]▶
It does work, because the companies will realize that gmail no longer delivers their emails and that they need to change their behavior. Also for example AWS SES (Simple Email Service) will give you clear warnings if it detects that recipients mark their email as spam (it seems that for example gmail delivers this information somehow to SES).
replies(1): >>41869926 #
8. account42 ◴[17 Oct 24 08:18 UTC] No.41867498[source]▶
Few companies are stupid enough to use the same sender or even domain for marketing and important transactional mail.
replies(1): >>41869061 #
9. lazide ◴[17 Oct 24 12:35 UTC] No.41869061{3}[source]▶
Utility companies are unfortunately exactly that kind of stupid though.
replies(1): >>41869195 #
10. 0_____0 ◴[17 Oct 24 12:51 UTC] No.41869195{4}[source]▶
My utility doesn't seem to market to me. What the heck are they sending email to you for? "Use more electricity!" "Build a new house!" "Get a hot tub?"
replies(2): >>41869353 #>>41870730 #
11. kbolino ◴[17 Oct 24 13:12 UTC] No.41869353{5}[source]▶
I'm not sure if it would be called "marketing" but my power company would send "you're using more energy than your neighbors" (I worked from home) and "think about why you use the most energy at night" (in the winter) emails which were no better than spam.
replies(1): >>41869611 #
12. lazide ◴[17 Oct 24 13:44 UTC] No.41869611{6}[source]▶
Also ‘free energy audit!’, ‘sign up for our peak-load-and-we’ll shut off your AC program’, and ‘we’re good people, honest!’ promotions.
13. someothherguyy ◴[17 Oct 24 14:20 UTC] No.41869926{3}[source]▶
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuse_Reporting_Format
14. kalleboo ◴[17 Oct 24 15:44 UTC] No.41870730{5}[source]▶
My gas company has the equivalent of a mileage program. You earn points per cubic meter of gas you consume, that can then be redeemed for expensive meals at restaurants and stuff.

Yes it's very stupid.

My telco does as well, and I got a free Nintendo Switch from them for just having fiber internet that I would need anyway (the telco just owns the fiber, the ISP then goes over that open fiber, so I pay two different companies, it's the former that has the point program despite being the definition of a dumb pipe)

15. ◴[17 Oct 24 16:29 UTC] No.41871156[source]▶