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Can spam and thank you madame
Europe tries to put a lid on unsolicited email...

By editorial@silicon.com

Published: Thursday 12 July 2001

Europe's dot-com community will welcome the news that a European Parliament committee has voted against new anti-spam legislation.

First of all, it is important to take a (mercifully) quick look at what this vote actually means, legally speaking. Deep breath - the proposals are part of an update to the telecommunications data protection directive being put through by the Directorate General of the Internal Market, part of the European Commission.

These now have to be voted on by EU member states. However, the European Parliament (after this committee decision is ratified at a plenary session) also gets to chuck its oar in and it may - or may not - get to overrule the Commission. Cappiche? Comprendez? Thought not.

Above and beyond the Byzantine workings of our beloved European bureaucracy there is a serious point here. The debate is about the so-called 'opt-in' or 'opt-out' approach to regulating the commercial emails we all receive on a daily basis.

Currently it is up to individual countries to decide what system they prefer. The 'opt-out' system - favoured in the UK, France, Ireland and Luxembourg - means consumers actively have to say if they don't want to receive advertising. The 'opt-in' system means it is assumed consumers don't want to receive spam, unless they specifically request it.

A straightforward case of business expedience versus consumer data rights you might think. Well, that's what the Commission would have you believe.

But let's be clear. We're not talking about the kind of junk mail routinely sent to Hotmail addresses, advertising everything from cheap loans and Viagra to adult websites.

These firms - often from outside the EU - operate mostly outside any kind of data protection legislation, and as such respect neither opt-in nor opt-out. The opt-in zealots at the European Commission say these measures will halt this kind of spam. In 90 per cent of cases they will not affect it at all.

Instead of actually eradicating real spam, the legislation will serve to create problems for European firms operating perfectly legal online services.

As you might expect, the bulk of industry is against the so-called opt-in proposals. But as is becoming increasingly clear, the consumer stands to gain little benefit from them too.

In light of this, yesterday's European Parliament vote is a breath of fresh air.

Given the machinations of the EU, it remains to be seen whether this common sense move will ever have any impact.