HELLFIRE I thought E.U. regulations required explicit opt-in to grant permission, the off-shoot of which is that inaction is an implicit denial of permission. I thought doing it anyway, unless the person in question takes action to opt out, was not permitted.
We even had the same ruling in Canada, when Bell’s “Relevant Advertising Program” was reported to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. They (supposedly) stopped, then tried to bring it back later, allegedly with a proper opt-in mechanism.