There's still spam in New Zealand?

I certainly can't divulge personal details, but I can confirm we made at least one sale of our anti-spam product to a user located in New Zealand on September 8th, 2007.

Why is this important you ask?

Well, New Zealand implemented a new law on September 5th, 2007 that effectively made sending spam there illegal.

So if spam is illegal in New Zealand, why would someone living there have need for a spam fighting program? Should I offer them a refund on the assumption they must have made some kind of mistake?

It would seem that New Zealand's new spam law is yet another example of "do something" politics. People are outraged and frustrated about a problem in their lives, so they look to government to come in and fix it. Politicians looking to get re-elected comply with their constituents and pass new legislation.

Unfortunately, these laws often don't work. CAN-SPAM, while not banning spam, is still rarely complied with in the United States. There's little reason to think a full ban on unsolicited email would be followed elsewhere.

Even if the law could somehow be enforced stringently within its own country, dealing with spammers around the globe borders on impossible. Does anyone think that Russia is going to extradite someone accused of the high-crime of sending unwanted messages pitching imitation watches?

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