In the simplest terms, you can’t even adhere to various regulations (like CAN-SPAM) if you don’t retain who you’re supposed to suppress emails to.
Arguably this information should be stored encrypted, but I suspect that’s very rare.
Arguably this information should be stored encrypted, but I suspect that’s very rare.
If you add people who aren't asking to subscribe that's the definition of spam (the "unsolicited" part of "UCE")
Sorry if this little bit of sausage-making bothers you, but it's pretty much how every mailing list works everywhere.