Europe declares war on spam

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Europe declares war on spam
Online July 16th 2003

The European Commission is preparing plans to fight spam. Member states of The European Union (EU) must implement the EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications by putting a "ban on spam" into national legislation before the end of October, 2003, The Register reports.

With a limited exception covering existing customer relationships, this directive states that email marketing is allowed only with prior consent. This "opt-in" regime covers both email and SMS messages received on any mobile or fixed terminal. Member States can also ban unsolicited commercial e-mails to businesses.

It is estimated that before the end of the summer, more than 50 percent of global email traffic will be spam. As well as a complete waste of time, spam can cost companies money in wasted employee productivity and misused computer resources.

The EU cites estimates that spam cost EU-based businesses up to ? 2.5 billion in 2002, in the form of lost productivity and misused computer resources.

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