Opt in, opt out - Government weighs options in war against spam

By PETER GRIFFIN IT editor

It's the bane of our online lives, but New Zealand is inching towards the creation of legislation against the sending of "spam" email with the issue of a Government discussion paper looking at the matter.

The question is, can legislation in any form stop the deluge of junk messages? Most people think not.

Associate IT Minister David Cunliffe will release a paper on Monday entitled Legislating against spam, a document which lays out the questions that need to be considered in New Zealand for passing legislation targeted at spammers.

For many, the way forward is simple - copy the Australian legislation, which came into effect on April 11, and work with other countries to harmonise spam legislation around the world.

That approach has the support of the Direct Marketing Association, which was a "virtual partner" in putting together a code of conduct for email advertising with its Australian sister body, the Australian Direct Marketing Association, and policing body, the Australia Communications Authority.

"We'll be supportive of anything that gets online communication into a more disciplined state," said Keith Norris, the chief executive of the Direct Marketing Association.

"But it won't do much within our domestic shoreline," he added.

That is because, with the exception of a handful of local spammers contracting their services to the world, the bulk of spam is generated overseas.

No amount of local pressure can stop it from appearing in email in-boxes.

The US Can-Spam Act has not stemmed the flow of unsolicited advertisements. The New Zealand Internet Society has labelled it a "disastrous failure".

The law, which came into effect in January and imposes fines on spammers, has a major loophole. It takes an "opt-out approach" to spam - people have to tell spammers they do not want to receive their emails.

"Opt-out is not an option when you get 2000 messages a day," said Peter Macauley, the society's executive director.

The State of California and Australia have gone for "opt-in" consent, where a person has to be consulted about being added to a list.

The Australian Act can impose a fine on a spammer of A$220,000 ($252,000) for a day's contravention and A$1.1 million ($.1.26 million) for further breaches.

Chris Thompson, the head of internet and online marketing at Xtra, puts his faith in technology rather than legislation.

Spam filtering software is used to lessen the junk email passing through Xtra's servers.

SPAM ISSUES

* Is the onus on an email recipient to request to be taken off an advertiser's mailing list or should a recipient have to be asked before they appear on any such list?

* Should the legislation apply to faxes, text messages, picture messages, etc, as well?

* Who will enforce anti-spam legislation?

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