UK admits failure on spam

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has admitted it made no prosecutions against spammers last year, even though it received 364 complaints.

The admission comes exactly one year after 13 European countries agreed to work together to share information and to prosecute people sending spam emails (Computing, 10 February 2005).

The ICO, which is responsible for enforcing spam laws in the UK, says it needs greater powers to tackle the problem effectively.

‘We are still calling for further powers, which the Department of Trade and Industry is aware of,’ a spokeswoman for the ICO told Computing. ‘We want stronger powers to take action.’

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) blames a lack of international co-ordination between governments for the failure to tackle spam.

‘There certainly doesn’t seem to be enough progress. You should be able to report spam in your own country and then see it dealt with internationally among governments,’ said Jeremy Beale, head of ebusiness at the CBI.

‘In the UK there has been a particular issue about the Information Commissioner and about him not having enough powers.’

Beale says the government must do more to tackle spam directed at businesses, but he adds that progress is being made.

There have been a number of high-profile prosecutions in the US. In January spammer James McCalla was ordered to pay £6.4bn under the US Can-Spam Act. But very few cases have come to trial in Europe (Computing, 12 January).

The most notable case in the UK is that of businessman Nigel Roberts, who won a private prosecution against marketing group Media Logistics, which was fined £300 at the end of last year.

But Jim Norton, senior policy adviser at the Institute of Directors, says although better laws and government co-operation can act as a deterrent, spammers will find new legal loopholes and move location to retain their lucrative profits.

He says the problem could be better addressed if the IT industry agrees on a common way of authenticating the identity of email senders.

‘Companies are wasting a lot of time dealing with spam emails, and it’s getting worse,’ he said. ‘It is a battle. What we need to do is stop it at the source.’

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