The Government today will introduce the Spam Bill 2003 to the House of Representatives. While there are still some issues surrounding the enforcement of this Bill and penalties involved in breaking it, this Bill represents the most significant move to date by the Australian government to counter the spread of spam. It also represents a pioneering move on the international stage that should help other governments around the world come together to combat spam.
The release below is an executive briefing from Peter Coroneos, Chief Executive of the Internet Industry Association (www.iia.net.au), to IIA members, and is republished here with permission of the IIA.
More information on the details of the Spam Bill 2003 will be released over the next couple of days.
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I thought I should let members know that at approximately 11.00am AEST the Government will table the Spam Bill 2003 into the House of Representatives. It is expected to hit the Senate at the end of October or early November and we anticipate cross party support. This means Australia will this year, have one of the world's first national spam laws in place, as we send a signal to spammers that spam is not welcome here. We expect other countries to follow suit. An EU directive that I mentioned in my last members' email requires EU member states to enact similar legislation to Australia's by the end of October. I am advised that full implementation may be delayed by up to six months. Whether by then, the US will have legislated nationally depends on current progress of any of the nine Bills before Congress. Current indications are not positive, but Australia having legislated may add impetus to their efforts.
Australia's Spam Bill will mandate an opt-in regime for the sending of commercial email, with exemptions for pre-existing business relationships (where consent is implied), charities, political parties and educational institutions. While we have concerns about the latter three, the Bill substantially delivers what we pushed for and largely replicates IIA policy in place since 1998. It also allows for the development of industry codes of practice which we are currently examining. It applies heavy civil penalties for breaches via an infringement system administered by the ACA and enforced by the Federal Court. The Bill also imposes heavy penalties also for harvesting of email addresses and the sale or trade of harvested addresses, and requires all commercial email to contain valid reply to addresses, business contact information and the ability for users to opt out. However, non commercial business email - ie. business communications of a factual nature, such as billing, technical or safety information are not defined as spam and can be sent without limitation. This preserves the value of email for legitimate business use.
The new law is not to be dismissed (as some have done) simply because less than 2% of spam is sourced from within Australia. It is to be seen as one part of a range of complementary strategies, including industry action, end user empowerment and international cooperation, all of which the IIA has been instrumental in pushing. We therefore support this legislation, subject to our right to influence its implementation particularly in relation to industry codes and a review of the carve outs for charities etc. Clearly, where the exemptions are abused there will be a need to plug those holes. Discussions with the Minister's office last night have put them on notice of that fact. I will circulate the IIA release about the Spam Bill later today.
I should also advise members that next week the IIA will announce a global campaign which I have instigated over the last week to educate end users about basic measures they can adopt to reduce the demand for spam. The buy-in from international affiliated organisations, parent companies of local members and international consumer organisations will make this the broadest based campaign in the history of the internet. The fact that this could be pulled together in a matter of days, largely by email, shows the power of the internet and the value of our international network, and their shared commitment to tackling the spam problem on a global level. Stay tuned for the announcement early next week.
Finally, can I take this opportunity to thank those of our members who have assisted in our work on spam, and particularly to Network Associates, ninemsn, BigPond, Bluebottle Systems and MessageCare who sponsored the IIA Spam Legislative Forum earlier this year. This Forum allowed us to refine the submissions to government which then helped shape the legislation. Can I also thank those vendors who have supported the IIA National User Empowerment program via our Nospam site at http://www.iia.net.au/nospam. This page has had over 100,000 unique visitors since April underscoring the extent of the concern among Australian users, and hence IIA's commitment to pursuing the issue.
kind rgds
Peter
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Chief Executive
Internet Industry Association (IIA)
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Please note, this IIA executive briefing is printed here with the permission of the Internet Inndustry Association, and cannot be reproduced without the express prior consent of the IIA.