New Zealand Anti-Spam Law

New Zealand is considering a new law intended to "outlaw spam."

The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Bill only allows sending advertising email to parties that have already opted to receive them. This is in significant contrast to the American CAN-SPAM act which only put minor restrictions on the content of spam.

Like CAN-SPAM, the act requires senders of junk e-mail to provide an opt-out mechanism. They are also required to really honor requests to be removed when they are received.

Also like CAN-SPAM, the bill requires correct identification of the message sender. Violators of the bill could be fined several hundred thousand dollars.

This potential law does sound much tougher than CAN-SPAM. It is however, unlikely to have much more impact on blocking e-mail spam. Most spammers probably aren't even aware the email they're sending is going to New Zealand. They are unlikely to take additional precautions. The precedent for bringing charges against foreign parties sending spam is weak.

In the United States, CAN-SPAM has been in effect for over a year. It has not done much to stop spam mail. Thus far the rate of spam being sent has yet to decrease. Some studies even suggest more spam is being sent than before the legislation.

The most effective spam controls are anti-spam applications like SpamButcher. SpamButcher can be obtained from this website as a free 21-day test drive.

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