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Well they're almost sensible but, if what I read in IDG's coverage of the subject is correct, I pity the poor ISPs, who will find themselves hit with a heavy workload as a result.

The Minister of Communications, David Cunliffe, is quoted as stating that those receiving spam will not have to contact the senders directly but should instead notify their ISPs who would then be under an obligation to act on the matter.

Oh dear.

I can imagine hundreds of thousands of stupid Net users thinking that now they can get rid of spam simply by reporting it to their ISP.

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I can also imagine the masses of phone calls and emails ISPs are going to receive from those low-IQ customers, all demanding that the spammers be stopped and that it's now the ISP's job to ensure that this is done.

Let's hope that Cunliffe didn't really mean what he said or the cost of internet access is probably going to go through the roof as ISPs are forced to hire small armies of front-line staff to cope with all these complaints.

Other than this rather strange aspect, the proposed anti-spam law looks pretty sound, although I suspect the government will be peeing into the wind if they think that other countries will follow our lead -- we're just too late for that.

Many years ago I did suggest that NZ should come out with some strong and sensible anti-spam laws that could act as a template on which the rest of the world could base their own legislation. If we'd done so at the time then I think we could have had some influence.

Unfortunately however, NZ is almost the last country in the western world to actually introduce anti-spam laws which means there's very little chance of other countries saying "oops, we got our laws wrong -- let's follow NZ". After all, politicians seldom like to admit their mistakes do they?

What we should be doing perhaps, is working to establish an international spam-enforcement network that could be used to track and prosecute spammers across international borders.

Hell, let's make spamming an extraditable offence and start throwing a few US peddlers of fake Viagra into Mt Eden for a couple of years -- that'd soon bring them to their senses. And don't worry about the cost of doing so - I'm sure there are many, many frustrated Kiwi email users who'd gladly pay a "spammers in prison" levy on their monthly ISP bill to fund such things :-)

Are you an ISP? What do you think about the implications of the proposed anti-spam bill?

And, as an email users, do Aardvark's readers think this legislation is good, bad, weak, strong or indifferent?

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