Japan to tighten spam laws

Proposals to further restrict email and phone spamming.

The Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry is planning a series of improvements to current anti-spam regulations in the country, and hopes to impose tougher restrictions on people and organisations wishing to send out unsolicited advertising messages, according to a report in the Yomiuri Shimbun.

Current laws, similar to the US CAN-SPAM regulations, allow spamming as long as adequate and accurate contact information is included, along with opt-out schemes, and also stipulates that all such messages must be clearly marked as unsolicited advertising, making it easier to implement simple filtering rules. Prison sentences of up to 1 year and fines of up to 1 million yen (US$8,200) are available, but other than a single major case in January this year, few prosecutions have been made under the existing system.

The latest proposals, currently at the planning stage and expected to be submitted to the Diet in next year's session, could go as far as banning all unsolicited email, and may also be extended to combat phishing attempts. More severe punishments are also expected, and greater international cooperation has been called for to combat spams originating outside of Japan.

More details are in the Yomiuri Shimbun report, here.

16 July 2007

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