Parliament starts to get the message about spam

A bill to put a stop to unwanted emails - spam - passed its first reading in Parliament yesterday.

Now the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Bill will go to the commerce select committee for consideration.

Spam - multiple marketing messages sent by email, text message and instant messaging - can be advertising but can also be used to try to defraud people.

Information Technology Minister David Cunliffe told Parliament spam hurt businesses and impeded the use of electronic technology.

Self-regulation and filtering were useful but legislation was also needed.

"The degree of public concern and the growing cost to our economy have made it clear it is now time for specific anti-spam legislation," Mr Cunliffe said.

"Without specific anti-spam legislation and a specific anti-spam enforcement agency, New Zealand runs the risk of being seen as a safe haven for spammers."

The bill would prohibit spam, enable legal action against New Zealand-based spammers and let New Zealand be involved in international regulatory arrangements to curb the growth of spam.

It also sets out penalties such as fines - $500,000 for businesses and up to $200,000 for individuals.

Act was the only party to vote against the bill. Its leader, Rodney Hide, said the bill was "feel-good legislation" that would not work.

"It might make Parliamentarians feel they are pretending to deal with spam."

Similar laws had not worked in the United States and Britain because the spam originated in other countries, he said. Innocent parties could be hurt when their computers were infected by a virus which then sent out spam.

The law would just burden New Zealand companies, he said.

Mr Hide, who has his own blogsite, said the best way to fight spam was to get anti-spam software.

Claims the law was part of an international approach were hollow because countries such as China were not participating.

- NZPA