Sick of Spam?

World's First Code To Crack Down On Spam
The Australian government is trying to set down new laws to filter out spam.

Dealing with unsolicited email or spam costs business and home internet users millions of dollars each year in wasted time and upgrading security systems.

But under the new code, ISPs will have to offer spam filtering options to subscribers and provide a system of handling complaints.

They will also have to impose reasonable limits on the rate at which subscribers can send email.

ACMA anti-spam team manager Bruce Matthews said the watchdog could seek penalties in the Federal Court of up to $10 million for a breach of an industry code.

But Mr Matthews said ACMA wanted to work co-operatively with the industry to eliminate spam.
"Normally ACMA would liaise with the company concerned about issues of non-compliance and would normally warn them before issuing a direction to comply," he told AAP.

Individual spammers also face penalties of up to $1 million under the Spam Act, which came into force two years ago.

The code will come into effect on July 16, after which ACMA plans to conduct compliance checks of the country's 700 ISPs.

"We will be taking action to ensure there is compliance," Mr Matthews said.

The rate of spam originating in Australia had fallen in the past 12 months from 2 per cent to 1 per cent.

For once somebody is doing something legislative about the problem of spam.