US and UK spam legislation in place
Anti-spam legislation in place.
While the 'CAN-SPAM Act' is expected to have been signed into US law by 1
January 2004, December 2003 saw the introduction of anti-spam legislation
in the UK.
Both sets of legislation have been criticised by members of the
anti-spam community for making life easy for spammers - indeed, prolific
spammer Alan Ralsky was reported to have said that the passage of the US
bill through the House of Representatives 'made [his] day'.
The concerns
are that the US legislation fails to make spamming illegal, instead placing
the onus on the recipient to opt out. Across the Atlantic, the UK's
anti-spam legislation makes some forms of spamming illegal, but a (rather
gaping) loophole allows spammers to continue targeting 'business' addresses
unabated.
Countries whose legislation has been met with a more positive
response include Italy, where spamming is punishable by up to three years
in jail, and Australia, where spammers may be fined up to $1.1 million a
day. However, the effectiveness of any legislation in reducing the spam
problem is likely to be countered while there remains such great disparity
in anti-spam legislation across the world.
29 December 2003
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