What’s the difference between technical standards and ethical guidelines?

Technical standards define how email systems must operate to function correctly. They specify protocols (SMTP), formats (MIME), and authentication mechanisms (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). Violating technical standards breaks functionality: messages may not deliver at all.

Ethical guidelines define how senders should behave within technically compliant systems. They cover consent management, privacy respect, content honesty, and recipient treatment. Violating ethical guidelines may not break functionality but damages recipient trust and ecosystem health.

Both matter for deliverability. Technical compliance is necessary but insufficient. A technically perfect message from an ethically problematic sender (purchased lists, deceptive content) still faces filtering. Successful email programs combine technical excellence with ethical practices.