Unsolicited Spam to Become Illegal?

[Mefiante]

See here:

In terms of the proposals, email or cellphone communication, in fact any form of electronic communication, is deemed personal information, requiring permission before a company can send any commercial item.

Louw said there were 36 countries that have enacted information protection statutes, and the draft proposal on the development of information privacy legislation for South Africa is, therefore, in line with international trends.

I wish they'd hurry up and ratify this already.  Sadly, ordinary junk mail would probably be exempted as it's not "electronic communication."

'Luthon64

[bluegray]

What sort of penalties do spammers face at the moment?

[Mefiante]

What sort of penalties do spammers face at the moment?

It varies from country to country and among different organisations.  Generally, ISPs and webmail service providers have strict policies that don't go beyond bannings (although many of them threaten legal action), but these are aimed at discouraging private users from spamming other clients.

Below are some examples of the kinds of penalty dished out to offenders:

• Japan: Up to two years in prison and/or up to $25,000 for private persons ($3,500,000 for companies)¹
• Italy: Six months to three years in prison and/or €90,000¹
• Belgium: Up to €250,000²
• USA: It's state-dependent but variously, up to a $25,000 per day;^{3 – see §17538.45 (f)(1)} up to $11,000 per recipient,⁴ $100,000 fine and up to 5 years,⁵ etc.  One particular offender in the US got nine years, a sentence that was upheld by the appeals court probably because the case also involved some serious fraud
• UK: Up to £5,000 in a magistrates court, or an unlimited fine if it's a jury trial⁶

Here are some interesting statistics about spamming.

Oh, and there's an apparently widespread view that spammers should receive the death penalty…

'Luthon64