Junk email laws apply, by Adam Turner - 6th April 2004
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)

Hard-core spammers will be the main target when Australia's communications watchdog begins to enforce anti-spam legislation from Saturday.

While penalties of $1.1 million a day will be reserved for prolific spammers, most complaints about spamming will be treated with a simple phone call, according to the Australian Communications Authority.

The ACA's focus will be on compliance, says Anti-Spam team manager Anthony Wing.

"We are really targeting, in the first instance, the hard-core spammers," he says.

"As long as people are trying to comply in the first instance, if we get a complaint it will result in a phone call."

Wing says reducing the amount of spam that hits Australia's borders is a "longer program" that requires international co-operation.

But Alyn Hockey - global director of research and development with security specialist Clearswift - believes the laws will have little impact on spam levels as 98 per cent of spam comes from outside Australia.

Hockey points to the European Union's Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications, which he says has been ineffective due to "paltry fines" and the fact that most spam originates from the US and Asia - outside European legislative jurisdiction.

"All the spam laws are really designed around your own jurisdiction and, with regard to Australians, most of the spam you are going to get is going to come from America," he says.

"All the jurisdictions have to get together, you need co-operation. That's where legislation is going to start to have some kind of effect because, at the moment, in some countries the fines are so paltry."

US test cases are under way after the passing of the CAN-SPAM Act but Hockey says even if the judges "come down on these people," spammers will relocate to other countries.

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