: Auto subscribe checkbox on registration What are the laws on this? If I have a simple registration form, can I have underneath it: [x] Subscribe to the blog [x] Email me when a new release

@Welton855

In the UK you can set this to be opt in. @Nick has a really good point about people that subscribe accidentally telling some third party that your emails are SPAM and your email rating going down accordingly. There are ways to mitigate against this: send 'circulars' out of a .info version of your domain and do it through a single inbox on 123-reg.com using SMTP to send your 'bulk' at a sensible rate through them and their bona-fide IP addresses. In this way you shouldn't permanently stain your IP address if your emails get marked as SPAM.

You can get browser locale in javascript and set the tick in the box to be un-ticked if the locale is not en_QUEENS_ENGLISH if you don't want to upset any of those American (or other nations lawyers). Then, with an on dom load event you can untick the box to save them the effort.

Also, I think that 'subscribe to newsletter' is not a very compelling proposition. Your visitors need more than that or else their eyes glaze over. If you have something that is what they want and free with a huge tick in it then you have something.
@Nick and @paulmorriss have very good answers on this.

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@Sent6035632

In the UK, you should use opt-in by default. You can only use opt-out to send unsolicited mail in specific circumstances. From the ICO's "Rules on email marketing" PDF:


Opt-out is where you are told that you
will get marketing unless you say you
don’t want them. Organisations can
collect only your email address on an
opt-out basis if they can satisfy the
exemption criteria:


your email address was collected ‘in the course of a sale or
negotiations for a sale’;
the sender only sends promotional messages relating to their ‘similar
products and services’; and
when your address was collected, you were given the opportunity to opt
out (free of charge except for the
cost of transmission) which you didn’t
take. The opportunity to opt-out must
be given with every subsequent
message.



Even if you are eligible to collect email addresses with an opt-out system (i.e. you're selling a product, marketing only similar products, and offer a clear way of opting-out), it's usually a bad idea, because you end up with people on your list who don't remember subscribing and who will report your email as spam. From the MailChimp blog:


Opt-out: This is an old-fashioned way
of building your email list where
you'd typically have some form for
people to fill out (like to receive a
free whitepaper or something). Hidden
at the bottom of the page would be a
little pre-checked box, with something
like, "Yes, please sign me up for your
email newsletter!" It's sort of a
scummy way of doing it, but
technically it's legal. We highly
recommend against it, because you'll
end up with tons of people who don't
understand how they got on your list,
who won't read your emails, and who
will send complaints to the anti-spam
authorities to get your server
blacklisted. It's yucky, so stay away
from it.


Lists are only valuable when they contain subscribers who genuinely want to hear from you. There's little point in marketing and communicating with people who couldn't care less.

As such, double opt-in, where users first tick to receive information, then click a link in their email to confirm their address, is the best way to build a list. If people are prepared to do that, the chances are high that they'll be prepared to open and click links in future emails you send them, and that's exactly the sort of customer you want on your list.

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@Gretchen104

From www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/opt_in_out.aspx

If you provide a clear and prominent message along the following
lines, the fact that a suitably
prominent opt-out box has not been
ticked may help establish that consent
has been given. For example:

'By submitting this registration form, you will be indicating your
consent to receiving email marketing
messages from us unless you have
indicated an objection to receiving
such messages by ticking the above
box.'


I would say removing a tick is the same as ticking an empty box, so you're probably OK.

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