EU Anti-Spam Directive Labelled 'Toothless'

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

16 December 2003

Security services vendor, CipherTrust has suggested that the recently implemented EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications is "toothless", and unlikely to benefit businesses seeking to reduce the number of unsolicited e-mails that they receive.

The Directive, which came into force in the UK on December 11, calls for firms to obtain consent prior to utilising the details provided by customers to send marketing materials via e-mail, and prevents senders of such material from concealing their identity or address.

However, in an interview with the VNUnet news service, director of business analysis and strategy at CipherTrust, Marten Nelsom explained that:

"It is a very important piece of the puzzle to resolve spam. But the current legislation is toothless and doesn't address business users at all."

He continued:

"Spammers are typically unethical and won't care about legislation, but it is a huge problem in the business environment. Spam is an area where resellers can find significant new business opportunities in helping businesses get new e-mail policies."

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