Anti-spam legislation needs further explanation and funding, says Kevin Rogers
According to an estimate by the European Commission published in November 2006, the cost of dealing with unwanted e-mails, commonly called spam, was around €39bn worldwide in 2005. The EU Directive (2002/58/EC) on the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector is arguably the key piece of anti-spam legislation. It was implemented in the UK as the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426) (the regulations) and came into force in December 2003.
The regulations have been criticised for the nature and definition of ‘consent’ under reg 22; the limited remedies under reg 30; and the somewhat limited enforcement of these provisions by the Information Commissioner. Despite the UK’s provisions, spam volumes are continuing to rise and, according to Spamhaus, the UK remains in the top 10 of countries ranked by ‘spam issues’. Until recently, the only successful case under the regulations was Nigel Roberts v Media Logistics UK (2005, unreported). Mr Roberts obtained £270 in damages and £30 costs against the company, which had
