Published Wednesday 10th December 2003

New UK anti-spam laws coming into effect will have limited effect in turning the tide in the fight against junk mail, according to lawyers and security experts. Revised UK regulations will mean online marketers can send e-mail pitches and SMS messages only to consumers who have agreed beforehand to receive them, except where users are existing customers of a particular company. So, for consumers at least, the UK government is applying the ‘opt-in’ approach to regulating spam. Corporations can still be approached ‘cold’ with email pitches but in these instances emails must have an opt-out clause.
The Office of the Information Commissioner will enforce the new regulations. Any breaches of enforcement orders issued by the Information Commissioner will be an offence liable to a fine of up to £5,000 in a magistrate’s court, or an unlimited fine if the trial is before a jury. That’s an inadequate deterrent, according to critics such as Spamhaus, which compare the anti-spam laws to tougher anti-spam laws in countries like Italy. Italy has enacted tough anti-spam legislation that makes spamming a criminal offence punishable by up to three years in jail and heavy fines for persistent spammers.
Figures vary but AV firms like Sophos and MessageLabs have both warned that between a third to two-thirds of spam is sent from ‘hijacked’ computers, a factor which makes tracing and prosecuting spammers far more difficult. Meanwhile lawyers argue the new UK regulations might do more harm than good.
David Marchese, partner at West End law firm Davenport Lyons, said: “Although the new law is very significant it will have more of an effect for responsible email marketing companies than it will for those who are irresponsible. It may even help irresponsible spammers by making people confirm live email addresses.”

For more information you can visit

www.antiphishing.org

www.helpwithpcs.com/internet/stop-report-spam-emails.htm

www.vicomsoft.com/knowledge/reference/spam.html