Press Release: Spam Report Published

6th October 2003For immediate release

Press Release

All Party Parliamentary Internet Group to release report on spam

The All Party Parliamentary Internet Group (APIG) is to release its report on spam at a press conference on Monday 6th October. The press conference will take place at 12pm in the Macmillan Room, Portcullis House, Westminster. APIG Officers Derek Wyatt MP, Brian White MP and Richard Allan MP will be available at the press conference to take questions and discuss the report.

The Report will make a number of recommendations including:

The DTI should change the rules on business-to-business “cold calling” and take the opportunity to explicitly ban the sending of spam to business addresses.
The DTI should urgently review the ability of the Information Commissioner to police the new Regulations on the sending of spam and provide appropriate powers to deal with what will inevitably be rapidly changing situations.
The DTI should consider the best method of ensuring that they are able to show their full and formal support for properly operated blocklists.
The DTI should review how they might commit some public funds to support those blocklists that meet the highest standards and hence those that they would wish to see used by the public sector.
The US Congress should adopt an anti-spam law that is modelled as closely as possible along the lines of the European Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC).
The Australian Parliament should adopt rules that run as closely as possible along the lines of the European Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC).
The UK Government should press for further work on spam within the OECD with the aim of creating consistent anti-spam legislation on a world-wide basis.

The Report also covers the:

Definition of spam;
Volume of spam;
Cost of spam;
Current laws;
Enforcement questions;
Methods of prevention;
and International considerations and activities.

Following the press conference the report will be available on the APIG website at: http://www.apig.org.uk/

Derek Wyatt MP, Chairman of APIG said:
“It is essential that co-ordinated global action be taken against spam. I hope that this report can help build international support for both legislative and technical measures to deal with spam.”

Brian White MP, Treasurer of APIG said:
"I hope this report will contribute to the search for a solution to solving the problem of spam. I look forward to the Group taking its recommendations to the UK and US Governments”

Richard Allan MP, Joint Vice-Chairman of APIG said:
“If all the report's recommendations were implemented then our constituents could expect to see a significant reduction in the amount of spam they receive. Most important amongst these is the call for the US Government to implement regulations along the lines of those we are introducing in EU countries to ban spam where the recipient has not opted in for this. While we welcome attempts by the US to legislate for tough penalties for forging header information, we look forward to engaging further with US legislators, to discuss how our respective legislation might be more closely aligned to defeat the worst offenders who send millions of spam emails a day.”

Note to Editors:

The Report is based upon the findings of the Spam Summit and subsequent Spam Inquiry which took evidence from a variety of interested parties.

APIG Officers will be visiting Washington DC between 13th-16th October, together with the e-Envoy Andrew Pinder. The delegation will be representing the UK at a series of meetings with US Senators and officials. They will discuss how respective legislation in the EU, UK and US could be more closely aligned to more effectively counter the global nuisance of spam. This is the first time that a UK Parliamentary delegation has travelled to the US to meet its counterparts in a bid to discuss common global tactics to counter the spam nuisance. Further details of the trip.

The All Party Parliamentary Internet Group exists to provide a discussion forum between new media industries and parliamentarians. Accordingly, the group considers Internet issues as they affect society, informing Parliamentary debate through meetings, informal receptions, inquiries and reports. The group is open to all members of the Houses of Parliament.

Derek Wyatt MP is the Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey. He is a leading campaigner on Internet issues in Parliament.
Brian White MP is a leading Labour backbencher on technology issues representing Milton Keynes North East.
Richard Allan MP is the Liberal Democrat IT spokesman and represents Sheffield Hallam.