Sorry for the quasi-spam, but I felt more than a few here might be
interested in this as there are serious parallels in web work.

A group of international designers have now gotten together to try to
do something about it:

www.no-spec.com

Currently, the focus is on graphic design, but there are plans to
expand efforts to include all aspects of marketing and branding, as
well as photography.

The goal is to provide resources for designers to help define what
speculative work is, and offer suggestions for professional ways to
respond to clients requesting spec work.

The secondary goal is to provide education for clients to teach them
why spec work is not only bad for designers, but also bad for them.

NO!SPEC is looking for support and participation from the design
community. If you have any spec related blog postings or articles on
your web site, NO!SPEC would like to feature it on the site (with a
link back, of course), or simply link directly to your article. There
are also buttons available that you can place within your blog or site
so that you can direct spec-seeking clients to a place where they can
be educated.