Re: A problem for democracy
"Any candidate who tried to "engage" me that way would be granted a swift lesson in rules of engagement."
The easiest lesson to give being this: Recipients pay for their email. Therefore you are engaging in cost-shifted advertising - and that is why people object to unsolicted email advertising.
If they bluster, then you can add these arguements:
1: The full value of such advertising is not being accounted for in spending declarations.
2: _all_ UK ISP acceptable use policies prohibit the activity and THEIR suppliers prohibit it too.
If you decide to sidestep by sending from an foreign ISP with an AUP prohibiting the sending of UCE (almost all of them) then you may be committing an extraditable criminal offence depending ont he country.
3: Getting someone else to send on your behalf does not make you any less liable.
4: The ability to send email is based on the receivers deciding to accept it. Unless you have a contract with the company operating the receiving mailserver, you have no rights to expect delivery and no comeback if they refuse messages from you. Email systems are entirely discretionary in their operation.
5: If you spam, you are likely to find yourself blacklisted for a whlie by thousands of mailserver operators. Making threats or demands to be removed them is likely to make such blocks permanent and even more widespread.
6: See https://www.spamhaus.org/news/article/737/french-government-provides-spam-lists