Legal Updates

COMBATTING SPAM - NEW GLOBAL ANTI-SPAMMING AGREEMENT

"One survey last month said spam represented as much as 76 percent percent of all email traffic" - Bureau of National Affairs, Internet Law News.

The UK, USA and Australia have all recently signed a new anti-spamming agreement, to combat the outbreak of unsolicited e-mails being sent to individuals and businesses. A key to the signing of this agreement is the fact that spam does not simply operate within one country, but can penetrate all borders.

It appears that many spammers operate out of the United States but route their junk messages through overseas computers to avoid detection and therefore make prosecution more difficult.

The agreement allows the following bodies to share information and work together to investigate and prosecute rogue marketers who send out billions of dubious spam messages every day:

The U.S Federal Trade Commission;

The UK's Office of Fair Trading, The Information Commissioner and The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; and

Australia's Competition and Consumer Commission and the Communications Authority

The debate as to the likely effect of the alliance has already commenced, with respected figures in the anti-spamming movement suspecting there will be little or no change.

There have also been calls for China to be included in such an agreement, as statistics reveal that upto 70% of websites sending junk mail are hosted in China.

The industry waits eagerly to see if the experts are indeed correct.

© RT COOPERS, 2004. This Briefing Note does not provide a comprehensive or complete statement of the law relating to the issues discussed nor does it constitute legal advice. It is intended only to highlight general issues. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances.