[Colliwinks]

Exactly: "Promotions" is not "Spam". There is already a spam folder, so these should go straight in there, if anywhere.

How does this fit in with the CAN-SPAM act?

"Unsubscribe compliance

    A visible and operable unsubscribe mechanism is present in all emails.
    Consumer opt-out requests are honored within 10 days.
    Opt-out lists also known as Suppression lists are only used for compliance purposes.

"

If there is no unsubscribe option, are google in violation? (Their get-out may be that these are not actual emails, but by making the transition from clear ad space to inbox, most people would argue that the delivery mechanism is irrelevant)

[Tyrannosaurs]

They're adverts presented in the same place you see your e-mails but as they haven't been sent the the way an e-mail is, they won't have used any e-mail protocol, you won't be able to reply to them as e-mails and so on so they aren't e-mails so won't be covered by this.

[3JPLW]

So does this also mean that they won't show up in IMAP clients?

[bearbin]

Yes