Interesting. All of my messages have a link that leads to a "click to unsubscribe" button because email scanners frequently "click" links. I guess if I was under Swiss jurisdiction I may be breaking that law.
In countries where such laws exist, most of the same links that take you to a button will immediately unsubscribe instead. I guess IP addresses are used.
I know why the button is there, as GET requests are not supposed to change state but POST requests can, and you can only make a GET request by clicking on a link in the email.
I'd be interested to see if that interpretation has been upheld by a court. Has anyone taken legal action arguing that the server should have used the GET request as the action to unsubscribe, not made the user click an extra button to get that POST request.
You can change state with a GET request. You aren't "supposed" to do it but there's no technical barrier preventing an unscrupulous company from effectively using the GET as a POST.
Remember those web counter images that would increment the number displayed each time it received a GET request? They were the most evil. -scary laughter-
The IP is used for geolocation. If the server detects that you're in a jurisdiction where clicking "unsubscribe" has to immediately unsubscribe you, the server does that, otherwise it shows you a button.
