Anti-spam legislation: Chocolate teapot or Holy Grail?

Today the UK government sent out a rallying cry in the fight against spam, with the inaugural Spam Summit, organised by the All Party Internet Group.

Stephen Timms, the minister for ecommerce, kicked off the event with two truisms. "The problem [of spam] is getting worse and there is growing public concern," he said. True.

"This isn't a problem which will be solved by legislation alone," he added. Definitely true. In fact, he probably didn't need to add the "alone".

The fact is that legislation and policy will make very little difference in the fight against what most of us think of when we talk about spam. Tightening legislation will bring legitimate marketers into line and will bring order to the 'above board' world of direct marketing, where companies need to be seen to be playing by the book. If they do not play by the book then a change in policy will provide clearer laws under which they can be prosecuted and harsher penalties. This is undoubtedly a good thing but this kind of spam is merely the tip of the iceberg and beyond this superficial level of control the government's powers are greatly diminished.

The majority of spam originates from unscrupulous spammers, who will not care what laws they are breaking.

Steve Linford from Spamhaus perhaps hit the nail on the head when he said: "These people [the spammers] are convicted criminals, with criminal records as long as your arm and they have no intention of stopping regardless of what changes are made in the law."

Talking to silicon.com after the event, Enrique Salem, CEO of anti-spam vendor Brightmail, who sponsored the summit, added that there is a danger we will spend so long discussing the problem - identifying what is classed as spam, discussing what should be done, discussing the various methods and means of blocking spam and the various degrees of legislation needed - that we will forget we actually have to do something about it.

"We're not going to wait around waiting for a law to be passed," he said.

Spam is a problem which technology has created and it's a problem which technology will solve. That's not least because technology moves at the speed of light, compared to politics which, to put it kindly, doesn't.

"In the US we have been drafting legislation for five years and there's no guarantee it will even get passed this year," added Salem, hinting at the inherent disunity between politics and technology. It's said that a week is a long time in politics but six years is an eon in technology.

But before APIG comes under too much fire it is worth bearing in mind the fact that politicians do have to be seen to react to the concerns of their constituents and it is also worth highlighting why this summit is to be applauded.

Brightmail's Salem said: "MPs are trying to solve a problem which their constituents have brought up. If a voter goes to his MP and says 'I've got a problem with spam, what are you going to do about it?' the MP can't turn around and say 'Nothing'."

And that's the situation we find ourselves in. The government has woken up to this problem and even if its ability to counter it is limited, its actions in organising this summit may at least prove to be a catalyst in stepping up the fight.

Even if it is a fight in which others will do the actual fighting.