|
Australian Anti-Spam Legislation under review |
|
|
|
|
Written by David Lopez
|
|
Friday, 02 March 2007 |
The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan has recently called for public submissions as part of a review of the Spam Act 2003.
The Australian Spam Act is internationally recognised as a leading legislative model to crack down on the scourge of spam that is overloading people’s in-boxes and causing great frustration,” Senator Coonan said.
The Spam Act, implemented in 2003, legislates against unsolicited electronic messages and the harvesting of email addresses and carries civil penalties from warnings to hefty fines for companies and individuals who breach the Act. The Act was implemented at the time with the provision to review the legislation within two years.
While the Spam Act seems to have driven spammers out of Australia, the Senator admits that Australians are still receiving a great deal of spam from overseas. “It is an International problem requiring an approach that focuses on both domestic and international initiatives,” Senator Coonan said. “The Government remains committed to a multi-layered strategy against spam that includes international cooperation, industry codes of practice, education and awareness activities and the promotion of technical countermeasures.” The Minister cited the Australian Government’s active promotion of international collaboration in forums such as the OECD, the International Telecommunications Union and APEC.
In October 2005, the ACMA launched a new spam reporting tool named SpamMATTERS. The software integrates as a plug-in with Microsoft Outlook to allow users to easily report spam with a single mouse button click. Forensic data gathered from the emails submitted is used the ACMA to prepare court cases against spammers. The plug-in can be downloaded from the ACMA site (http://www.acma.gov.au/). Complaints and reports can also be submitted directly via the ACMA website.
Despite email spam still being the major form of spam received in Australia, the ACMA reports that spam sent via SMS is an increasing concern for consumers. “Given the strength and general nature of the legislation, the Act is flexible enough to deal with spam sent dfrom a range of technologies.”
Industry and members of the public are invited to make submissions to the Spam Act 2003 review by Wednesday 1 February 2006. |
