Hi Phil, On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 05:24:50PM +0100, Phil Thompson wrote: > Andy Smith wrote: > > >I highly doubt that this has ever been tested in court and I also > >doubt that "electronic mail" is defined anywhere in UK law. Note > >that the actual directive does not mention the part about a > >web-based contact form alone being unacceptable. > > My main point was to point out the "name, geographic address and email > address of the service provider" bit, as from the web sites concerned I > am unable to see whether this is run by an Indian in Bangalore or > somebody local - contrary to the objective of the Distance Selling rules > which were to increase consumer confidence.
Agreed. Although of course just because the registered office might be in the UK says nothing about where the service is actually provisioned from; ovh.co.uk - registered office in London, own site hosted in London, customer sites hosted in France. > The point about a web based contact form is that it may not provide the > consumer with the email address for future reference, so the bit about a > web-based form is interpretation but an entirely reasonable one if the > directive requires provision of contact details...... > > "the details of the service provider, including his electronic mail > address, which make it possible to contact him rapidly and communicate > with him in a direct and effective manner; " So do you feel confident that you could convince a non-technical judge or jury that "http://example.com/contact"; is *not* an address for direct contact via electronic mail making it possible to contact example.com rapidly and communicating with them in a direct and effective manner? Unless it is defined in law what "electronic mail" and an "email address" actually are then I would not personally be confident it could be done and would not technically wish it to be done since I see no reason why a technical communications protocol (SMTP) should be mandated by law. I personally find email to a role address far more convenient than a web form as I expect would most, and I see your point in that, however I feel that you, and out-law, are reading more into the law than is actually present and doing so in a counter-productive way. I find it likely that SMTP email as we know it now will fall out of common usage the near future (decade) and by then there will be no email addresses on my websites. I would hope that the law, while always on the back foot in these matters, would not go out of its way to remain so. Cheers, Andy -- http://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting Encrypted mail welcome - keyid 0x604DE5DB
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