[AfriNIC-rpd] NomCom at AFRINIC-16

[Alan Barrett]

On Mon, 21 May 2012, Mark Elkins wrote:
> I pulled off addresses from my own peering page, that is - I 
> collected the addresses myself in 'one on one' contacts with 
> people over time - and now I can't use them to make contact for 
> election purposes???

As I have said several times, it depends on the reason the email 
addresses were given to you.

If the addresses were for discussion of peering, then using them 
for something else is wrong.  If the addresses were for personal 
contact with a friend, then using them for election canvassing 
is OK.  Only you and the person who gave you the address knows 
the details, but the fact that you say it was a "peering page" 
suggests that the addresses were probably intended for discussion 
of peering.

If an email address was given to you for the purpose of peering, 
then any email not related to peering would be unsolicited email. 
If you send similar messages to many such addresses, then it's 
unsolicitied bulk email, or spam, which may not be illegal, but is 
certainly objectionable.  I hope that you did not do that.  If you 
did do that, then I hope that the evidence will be presented in 
public.

--apb (Alan Barrett)