lostcarpark | Ireland bans Spam

This just appeared on our internal newsfeed at work:

Dermot Ahern outlaws "spam"

Communications Minister Dermot Ahern today outlawed "spam", or
unsolicited emails, and text messages to the general public, which
originate in the EU.

The Minister's move follows growing concern at the amount of
unsolicited marketing and other material which arrives by email
and text messaging.

The Minister has formally signed into law measures under the
European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and
Services)(Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations, 2003.

It is an EU-wide initiative and the Minister said that he intends
using Ireland's Presidency of the EU to initiate global
partnership in clamping down on spam.

The regulations also cover the right of subscribers to determine
what personal data is included in directories and also curtails
mobile phone companies from providing data to third parties
without the consent of a subscriber.

The legislation will provide for the enforcement of regulatory
decisions by the Data Protection Commissioner and ComReg,
including powers for investigation of suspected breaches of the
regulations.

This external information has been sourced from Business World,
a service of Media World Ltd.

Not that I can see it worrying the smappmers.