News New laws on spam come into force

From the BBC...

New European laws banning the sending of unwanted e-mails - spam - come into force on Thursday.

The laws make it a criminal offence to send e-mails or text messages unless the recipient has agreed in advance to accept them.

Firms which continue to send junk mail face hefty fines and can even be sued by the recipients.

But it will not free mail boxes of spam as much is sent from outside the EU and escapes the new rules.

Rules broken

The UK Government described the law as a "step in the right direction" in ending the practice of sending unsolicited e-mails.

But new research suggests most top UK websites are already breaking the new rules.

"Companies are either not aware of the legislation, or are ignoring it," said Ian Thomas from WebAbacus.

WebAbacus found 98% of firms do not give enough information about files which track user movements, or provide a simple opt-out option.


More here...

 

i assume this only applies to advertisement type email, cuz imagine if it was applied to all email:

person A sends an email to person B without first asking. person B decides he didn't want the email. person A gets a fine.

 

My thoughts exactaly.

I believe that my state (Oregon) is also attempting to pass such a law, but I am actualy hoping that it doesn't go through. Outlook filters take care of most of it for me, and I don't feel like sacraficing my privacy that much to get rid of something that isn't such a big deal.

Plus, my mailserver is somewhere in the middle of the UK iirc (I think they moved it somewhere else, but I can't remember where). How can my puny little state have the rights to control the content that I receive on that? The internet is international, and they have no juristiction

 

they are not controlling the content you recieve, they are trying to control certain companies sending information. it is nothing to do with your email server.