Slashdot Mirror
French Legislators Vote to Ban Spam
mlawmlaw writes "The Herald is reporting that France's National Assembly has voted 'in favor of banning unsolicited e-mail sales messages.' This is an admendment to a law to 'increase confidence in the digital economy.' This would ban 'direct marketing, notably advertising, via electronic messages' to individuals who had not given consent. The article is light on details, but it's nice to see France taking a step to reduce spam."
The article is light on details, but it's nice to see France taking a step to reduce spam.
Yeah, that's just what we need -- governments passing laws to outlaw things that the majority of the population doesn't like. I wonder other unpopular things they're looking at banning. At least Ashcroft hasn't labeled spammers as enemy combatants engaged in cyberterrorism and shipped them all off to Guantonomo Bay without a trial -- yet.
Surely there must be a way to reduce spam without getting governments involved.
GMD
watch this
Am I the only one that's thinking the french will fold once the spammers declare war on them? :)
It's obvious they're anti-spam because it's an American invention. In fact, I think George Bush invented it (shortly after Gore invented the internet).
I am completely in agreement with the idea of outlawing spam and have long wished for such a law in the US. Unfortunately, the more I think about it, the more I realize, there's just no way to enforce such a law.
First, in order to enforce such a law you would have to create some sort of governmental agency where you would send your spam complaints and they would go after the spammers. This, of course, results in the creation of another bloated government bureaucracy fincanced by your tax dollars. This raises a number of issues -- not the least of which is "how much benefit will you really get in return for the millions of dolars that will be spent".
The second problem, and the most frustrating, is one that I have run into in my own attempts at fighting spam. When I trace the IP addresses of the spam which arrives in my inbox daily, I find that more and more are originating from foreign countries, including Korea, China, Spain and Brazil.
So, no matter how tough your anti-spam law may be, it's worthless when spammers cant take advantage of open relays in foreign countries.
Surely there must be a way to reduce spam without getting governments involved.
It's called vigilanteism. Let's all gang up on the bastards and give them a little taste of community justice. 'Cause if it isn't against the law, what other incentive do they have to stop.
I guess the French government is not owned by the corporations? Man, that is refreshing. Where did they come up with that one. Shit, I'll drop my rifle and run any day for that.
Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
Oh, and French Fries too.
but seriously, why would france want to attack its best oil supplier? they aren't chickens, they're smart business men who just happen to deal with tryannical dictators.
The problem with legislation like this is that most people opt-in on a specific site, but that list gets sold. You don't know what the buyers are using that information for so consent was given, but not necessarily to the people sending. US laws have a very similar problem.
In Europe, we have data protection law (google for Data Protection Act to see Britain's implementation, but it's an EU thing, so the other European countries have very similar laws with the same purpose).
Companies that deal with "personally identifiable information" have to be registered with a central authority (the Data Protection Registrar, a government office), and have to give a reason why they want to keep the information. If a company passes on the information, or even just uses it for something other than its original purpose, they're already breaking the law, so no new law is necessary.
(The registration thing might be different outside Britain, but the principle is probably the same in France)
You can always count on the French to take the idealistic option.
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
This means war! Oh wait ...
(Score:-1, Wrong)
Who cares. They'll never do anything about it, and even if they do they'll mess it up. They voted to pass resolution 1441, but they haven't backed it up. And frankly, I'd say that VX nerve gas would be a tad more disruptive to the average French citizen than a little unsolicited spam. Hell, I may just dig out my old french books and see if I can sell some wine and cheese via the internet.
--
Annotateit at Annotateit.com
Hey, don't knock the French army. The French army did a great job of defending the Hutus in Rwanda during genocide of a half million Tutsis. Sure, the Hutus were killing people, but they spoke French, so who cares?
No to be one-upped by the French, President Bush has promised to ban Entropy in the US.
First, let me state that I hate spam as much as anyone else, and would very much like to see it disappear. But let me play devil's adovcate for a second. One thought has occured to me:
How is spam different than bulk mail? You still have to look at it, still have to throw it in the trash, and still don't read the messages inside. And what are the complaints against spam? "It wastes server space. It wastes bandwidth." Oh, now those are certainly precious, non-renable resources. Not like the millions of trees that are cut down daily for bulk mail. (Yes, I'm ignoring the cost difference, but the point is still the same)
Just wondering.... Btw, is there any reason we (or the French) can't outlaw any type of unsolicited (e)mail?
Kurdt
I'm not anti-social. Just pro-technology.
I'm surprised that France didn't ask for more proof that spam was a problem.
On the other hand, what happens if you ignore France and keep violating the law? Are you guaranteed they'll perpetually seek a "diplomatic solution"?
"It wasn't selling anything, it was offering a free tour!"
useless law.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Another fine and stupid idea from the French "Ministry of Language"
yeah, but it has strings attached such as making ISP responsible for policing user web sites (hell, think about censorship coming). more info here (in French, but you can have a good laugh using google translation services ;-) )
What's their e-mail address ?
Let's ban drugs, that'll make them disappear forever.
Government just never learns from its past, does it ?
-Billco, Fnarg.com
They're banning Specially Processed American Meats?
Fine. Next time those cheese eating surrender monkeys are invaded by a Totalitarian regime, and are starving..
Let them eat cake. *snort*
Interestingly, the article above mentions French Fries being offered in London in the 1800s by Joseph Malines.
Malines in a town in Belgium, about 10 miles form Brussels. Probably, thats where Joseph came from.
AC (TLTL - too lazy to log)
And then the process repeats, thus causing an infinit loop.