Legislation
and enforcement - a cross-border issue
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Background papers |
Although there is no a single solution to overcoming spam, appropriate legislation
and effective enforcement are two of the main elements in the fight to combat
the problem.
As the phenomenon of spam is relatively recent, not all countries have spam
laws, and even those that have already implemented specific legislation are
currently facing the problem of enforcement at the national and international
level.
Furthermore,
spammers (often also scammers) are increasingly exploiting the international
nature of the Internet. For this reason, cross-border cooperation is crucial both in
the
elaboration and the implementation of new legislation and in its subsequent
enforcement.
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Opt-in and
opt-out approaches
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In October 2003, the European Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications
(2002/58/EC) entered into force. With this directive, the sending of unsolicited
communications via e-mail, SMS or phone has become more rigidly regulated across
all European Union (EU) member States. The basic principles are:
- Opt-in approach: businesses to gain prior consent before sending
unsolicited emails for direct marketing. This consent must be explicitly
given, except where there is an existing customer relationship.
- Technology neutral definition of spam: it covers also SMS, MMS, etc.
- Senders have to clearly indicate the use of cookies or other tracking
devices (including spyware).
See also Communication
from the Commission on unsolicited commercial communications or "spam"
In January 2004, the United States
CAN-SPAM
Act entered into force. This bill does not ban commercial e-mail outright,
but establishes a series of rules for lawful electronic marketing, based on two
main principles:
- Recipients of commercial electronic mail have a right to decline to
receive additional commercial electronic messages from the same source
(opt-out approach).
- Senders of commercial e-mails should not mislead recipients as to the
source or content of such mail.
To facilitate the determination of weather an e-mail message is subject to
the provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act, the Federal
Trade Commission issued on 16 December 2004 the Final
Rule Defining What Constitutes a “Commercial Electronic Mail Message."
The text
of the Final Rule is available online.
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Anti-Spam
Laws and Authorities Worldwide
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ITU Survey
on Anti-Spam Legislation Worldwide
In the framework of its
"Countering Spam" activities, the International Telecommunication
Union has created a platform to gather anti-spam
legislation worldwide, and provide a list of the competent enforcement authorities
and their contact details. Links to news and other sources is also provided. Information is regularly
updated.
A list containing information
and contact details of enforcement bodies in OECD economies is available on the OECD
website.
If you have comments, or would
like to provide any additional information, please contact the ITU Strategy and
Policy Unit (SPU) at cybersecurity (at) itu.int.
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