[Avodah] Is spam kosher?

[Simon Montagu]

On Jan 27, 2008 4:48 AM,  <T613K at aol.com> wrote:

> On what grounds would it be ossur?

That's really the question I'm asking :) Apart from dina demalchuta
where appropriate. I have a clear instinctive reaction that it's "not
on", but is that social conditioning or does it have a halachic basis?

> What if I send something that I
> personally find interesting to fifteen people, and several of them consider
> it a waste of time while the others enjoy it -- on what grounds would that
> be assur to do, or might it only become a question in your mind if my cc
> list had fifty people instead of fifteen?

I'm not referring to an individual sending an individual email even to
fifty people that he or she knows personally, but to things sent from
an anonymous address to addresses possibliy harvested from websites or
mailing lists.

I might also send something that I find interesting to a bunch of
people, but if I found a listserv that sent interesting daily emails I
would send them subscription instructions rather than subscribing them
myself. Again, am I just following social norms and missing an
opportunity to be mezake et harabbim?