Spam war transcends political divide
Spam war transcends political divide
Representatives from Australia's three main political parties will get together later this month to consider the Internet Industry Association's proposals for new laws to combat spam.
The IIA is to convene a meeting of senior industry figures to prepare advice to the government on implementing anti-spam legislation. The IIA Spam Legislative Forum, to take place at Parliament House in Canberra on June 26, will consider the form, scope and implementation of the government's proposed legislation.
Communications and IT minister, Senator Richard Alston, will address the Forum, together with ALP Senator Kate Lundy and Democrats' Senator Brian Greig.
"The government has indicated the principles it believes need to underpin the anti-spam laws - we need to examine the practical aspects of implementing them, their implications for the industry and advise the government accordingly", said IAA chief executive, Peter Coroneos.
"Spam is an abuse of the medium - that much is clear. What is less clear is how legislation ought to define and deal with core concepts including a workable definition of 'spam', clarity on what constitutes 'valid consent' and the nature of 'pre-existing business relationships' that permit email communication with customers."
Coroneos added that while on one hand, email is a useful and cost effective tool for business in maintaining customer relationships, on the other hand it is being abused by anonymous businesses with no permission or pre-existing relationship to the user. He said it has reached the point where 'legitimate' marketing has become devalued, lost in a flood of irrelevant and often offensive spam.
"Legislation provides us with the opportunity to draw some clear lines in the sand. It should be tough on spammers - very tough - because the escalation in the problem, at 40% per month, could stop people responding to email in all its forms," said Mr Coroneos. "For many companies, spam is now degrading their communication networks by choking or crashing mail servers, spreading viruses and carrying illegal content to users and customers."
Mr Coroneos said the IIA understood that domestic legislation would not eliminate thespam problem, but maintained that it is an important part of a comprehensive strategy. The other elements, according to the IIA, include industry initiatives, as exemplified the IIA National Spam Campaign (which provides all Australians with a free trial spam filter), user empowerment, and international co-operative arrangements.
"Australia seems likely be the first country to enact national legislation. This will give us the capacity to influence other countries to adopt similar policies so we can start attacking the problem at source."
IIA is hopeful that the cross-party support given to their campaign thus far will enable passage of legislation this year.
More information on the IIA National Spam Campaign can be found at http://www.iia.net.au/nospam.
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