Banned wagon: global
A weekly survey of world restrictions on freedom and free trade The other day my email inbox included details of two special deals. One said, 'Increase your penis size', the other, 'Enlarge your breasts'. I would look a little silly, presumably, if I took up both offers. But then senders of unsolicited emails, or `spam' as they have become known, are not exactly counting on a high response rate to the advertisements. The marginal cost of sending a spam being next to nothing, spammers can afford to generate messages in the knowledge that even if they get one reply in a million they will still make a profit.
It is terribly annoying, but whether the government's proposal to threaten senders of unsolicited emails with £5,000 fines is a sensible way of dealing with the problem is another matter. The proposed law, inspired by an EU directive, would forbid any organisation to send a private computer-user an email without permission. In future an organisation wanting to make contact with a member of the public would have to send an individual a piece of junk mail instead — or worse, cold-call them, a practice which will remain legal.
If unsolicited emails were only about penis enlargement, few would suffer from a ban. But there are many other reasons why companies need to contact individuals at private email addresses. For people who work at home, the ban could prove an appalling burden.
The government's ban would do little to stop spam in any case, because its jurisdiction would be limited to the EU. Since most spam seems to originate in Florida, those with an interest in penis-enlargement need not worry. In any case, it is not clear why legislation is necessary. The job of filtering out unwanted emails can better be done by software than by PC Plod. Even without filtering software, all you have to do to get rid of an unwanted spam is to press the delete key. It's easy, even when you are deleting press releases telling you how marvellously the government is doing.
Ross Clark
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