Last year I volunteered to promote an event discussing academic freedom held at a local university. We hired a venue at the university to hold the event. The event was okayed at VC level.
It was an event that was directly pertinent to many of the academics at the university and so I contacted perhaps 200 people in relevant departments individually, using the email addresses publicly displayed on the university website. It was a fairly random selection based on a quick reading of their disciplines and interests. I copied and pasted the emails into a document as I worked my way through various departments, so I suppose I created a database.
Some of those contacted responded positively and attended the event, most ignored my email, but I had several very accusatory and threatening responses. Among the things I was accused of were breaches of GDPR law (they said that using their emails for marketing purposes was illegal) and an invasion of privacy. I had a surprising number of people responding with a 'why are you targeting me with this?' response. 'This' was a polite, straightforward invitation to an event featuring fellow academics in their own discipline.
As a result of some of these very aggressive responses (some were from the Law department and threatened to sue me personally) other volunteers became very scared they'd be sued and walked away.
We are holding a similar event this year. Again, the subject we are covering is absolutely relevant to several academic departments at the university and academics may have something to learn from, or wish to engage in debate with, the speakers.
Would I be committing an offence by again looking through the university website for academics working in relevant areas and sending them a personal invitation to attend? If not, what is the best response to offer someone who a) accuses me of targeting them personally or b) threatens to sue me?