Aaah ok now I understand. You are a “player” and need the adrenaline. Nothing wrong about that. Guess I am too old for such adventures. That’s why I intitially was wondering about the loophole approach.
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I guess you can put it like that 
I’m building my own list, attending networking events and doing all sorts of other ‘sales’ stuff. I get 1-2 new clients per month and a handful of consultations, emails.
My friend started this 2 months ago and already got 30 clients just using this method. It would be foolish of me not to consider it
But we went a bit off beat from the original question. Yes, it’s not legal to scrape. Should you do it anyway? Depends. Can you get away with it in certain countries? I would say yes.
My post a few links above suggests otherwise
As another side topic to really blow all your minds. Social media is sometimes included in spam laws. Example, in Canada a private direct communication (such as a DM in Instagram or twitter) “may be” considered an “email account” in terms of the anti-spam laws. So all of you mass DMing people soliciting people with CPA or management services could very much be much more liable there. Now I don’t know all countries’ laws in relation to this but that’s something to think about.
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I’ve read that earlier as well 
So actually if we are going 100% by the book, DM’ing is also not legal. In the end, we decide what’s safe and what’s not. But taking risks is something we all must do unfortunately.
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would be interessting what happens if somebody sues someone for sending advertising dm via IG ^^ but it’s hard to figure out if there are cases. Could not find something. Also it’s something special cause all happens within IG and IG TOS.
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https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/e-1.6/FullText.html
I do not have the time to go through that for you 
. Just consult a lawyer, he will help you 
In case canada is a special snowflake (which I doubt) do not forget this:
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I have done my due lawyer diligence I’m fairly confident with the Canadian laws That link you posted also indicates commercial emails are allowed with implied consent.
Yes, I mentioned that earlier in this post. In short Canada won’t punish me directly for violating other country policies (unless they have a special agreement with that country to go after violators in that country on their behalf) I could still have a summary judgement put against me in said country and should I ever travel there (or anywhere in EU if applicable) or try to setup a business there it could cause a lot of issues.
Also the US has a looser policy than us. In fact I’m pretty certain we adopted our laws from their initial setup. On a side note I don’t think the US has a consent rule (implied or otherwise) with commercial emails as long as it complies with content regulations and opt-out measures regardless if it’s individual or commercial.
However - In the US, using scraped emails is in fact not allowed. Although to be fair there’d be virtually no way to prove the email was scraped short of a confession. If an email is public one can always claim they found the email specifically looking for a way to contact that person.
So there’s at least two snowflakes
Then enjoy sending millions of emails to canadian companies
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Some guys also make a living suing spammers…
Man… I’ve read a bit online, the writings of the ‘experts’ and all the posts here, but I am more confused than ever. About everything.
I was gonna post some questions/discussion but this thread has convinced me to just bite the bullet and get in touch with a local lawyer about it, considering sales and marketing outreach is my business and I want to build on that going forward without getting fined into oblivion. I need specific advice I can bank on, about everything - my existing client lists, scraped lists, using bought lists, contact forms, the sending of sales emails in general, and the whole GDPR shebang. This is why good lawyers get the big bucks, this stuff is complicated :-p
Thank a lot to everyone who dropped their knowledge and experience on this topic here, even though I am confused I feel I am now ready to hit up the lawyers with a good list of specific questions.
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It’s the same with the accountants
You will know if you did wrong or right (by law) if you get dragged to court and win or lose 
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in america – I can get a phone book with phone numbers and start calling each one for business. Unless they have a ‘no call’ setting on their number.
Email has no such laws here. Solicitation is not a crime here. Neither is scraping emails
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Some of your similar advice last year convinced me to register my business and get an accountant instead of trying to scam the system. Sometimes you just need a HenryCooper to come in and tell you to stop clowning about and get serious about your business, if that’s your goal.
Despite the bureaucracy and extra cost, I was a good move for me to go legit. Next step is to work the system for maximum benefit - the legal way as big corporations and savvy businessmen do.
But first, this little situation about the legal validity of my marketing methods has to be addressed 
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If you’re DMing a new follower how would that ever be illegal if they decided to follow you and connect with you ? So they can connect with me but I can’t connect back?
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I hear you buddy I wasn’t saying you said that just giving an example for others,
For everyone else,
I’m in the USA, our laws require opt-out etc. if they don’t want to receive anymore emails.
No ones going to even try to sue somebody for a simple personalized message seeing if they want help growing their business unless you send the same message to them 100 times and they keep opting out or you won’t stop bugging them, etc.
Let’s be real guys
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That is not correct. I am really surprised by the amount of people who think that this is legal.
Phone numbers are also public on the internet, still you are not allowed to cold call them for marketing.
Which country are you from and how are those phone numbers acquired?
the states
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Thats also for US from CAN SPAM ACT concerning harvested emails:
What are the penalties for violating the CAN-SPAM Act?
A. Each separate email in violation of the law is subject to penalties of up to $42,530, and more than one person may be held responsible for violations. For example, both the company whose product is promoted in the message and the company that originated the message may be legally responsible. Email that makes misleading claims about products or services also may be subject to laws outlawing deceptive advertising, like Section 5 of the FTC Act. The CAN-SPAM Act has certain aggravated violations that may give rise to additional fines. The law provides for criminal penalties – including imprisonment – for:
- accessing someone else’s computer to send spam without permission,
- using false information to register for multiple email accounts or domain names
- relaying or retransmitting multiple spam messages through a computer to mislead others about the origin of the message,
- harvesting email addresses or generating them through a dictionary attack (the practice of sending email to addresses made up of random letters and numbers in the hope of reaching valid ones), and
- taking advantage of open relays or open proxies without permission.
Guys don’t take this TOO literally.
If someone has a business account that is PUBLIC (not set to private) and they have the email button on their profile, and they say SEND ME AN EMAIL/DM
/Email for business opportunities/Let’s collab
You message them saying hey are you looking for someone to help grow your page?
No one is going to jail/being fined.