Sainsbury's says 'no spam' this Christmas

Supermarket Sainsbury's has denied widespread allegations that it has been sending unsolicited promotional emails.

Discussion groups such as Usenet are crammed with postings alleging that the retailer has sent unsolicited emails offering new subscribers to Sainsbury's mobile phone arm a free Nokia 3310.

Sainsbury's, however, has issued a blanket denial, claiming it never sends out unsolicited email, and promising to investigate any cases of alleged spamming.

Many recipients of the emails concerned allege the retailer has used addresses that they have only used in specific online discussion groups.

It is common practice for the companies who compile spam address lists to gather data from discussion groups, and regular users often use a special address when they post to such groups.

Since many users report receiving spam sent to addresses which they use only for discussion groups, the addresses must have been harvested from those groups - and Sainsbury's cannot therefore claim the owners gave their permission to be mailed, explicitly or by implication.