Heard the one about the new spam and privacy law?

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Sounds a bit like my company's mission statement - nobody believes that either! Eddie on 11/12/03 7:13PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

So in fact this law has almost no real impact on spam seeing as (judging by the sample of 90% of my mail intake which is spam, according to SpamStamp) Britain isn't exactly a hotbed of spamming swines. Still, it's possible that without this law we might become that in the future. ninja on 11/12/03 7:39PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

I intend to ingore the law in the same way that I ignore the law that says you can't eat mince pies on christmas day. It is crazy. Why should the government say what I put on *MY* site. AndrewDuffell on 11/12/03 9:11PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

a new york site isn't covered by this law silly. Now there's a law against it here we have more power to get other countries to stop doing it. mavhc on 11/12/03 9:27PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

One of the good things about accessing the internet and email via a school network (my job) is that pretty much all spam and all advertisements on web pages are removed before it gets to me. However, it was annoying when drobe became a banned site and I was reported to the Headmaster for trying to access it ! Just one dodgy work in one news item did it. (But, one phone call then got it sorted) Back on topic, this law seems to be universally being criticised as being ineffective and irrelevant. I guess its a first step in the right direction though. martin on 12/12/03 9:05AM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

Why not break more laws then? I don't understand how people boast about breaking the law when most laws are there for their protection. Snig on 12/12/03 12:47PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

The main problem is not just the spammers but the idiot minority who respond and buy those "Enlargement tables" etc who then give the spammers an incentive to stay in business. Like most EU directives this is yet another one that will simply be ignored. Fuzzy on 12/12/03 1:21PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

Ninja: while this country "isn't exactly a hotbed of spamming swines" there *are* some notably annoying spammers here (ok - anyone who spams is, by default, annoying!) and /in theory/ this law should help stamp them out. Except it won't - there are loopholes. One example, which is proving to be a bone of contention in some circles, is that it offers little or no protection for "business" addresses. Then there is the fact that the Info Commiss is responsible for dealing with transgressions and either lacks the teeth or the resources (or both) to do so - only time will tell if this actually true, though. As things stand, though, while you suggest that without this law we might have become a hotbed of spamming swines in the future, my fear is that we might become that /because of/ it. VinceH VinceH on 12/12/03 6:29PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

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