French Legislators Vote to Ban Spam

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French Legislators Vote to Ban Spam

Posted by timothy on Thursday February 27, 2003 @05:44AM from the this-could-burn-some-legit-mail-too dept.

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."

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No way to enforce thhis by rudy_wayne · 2003-02-27 05:58 · Score: 4, Insightful

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.
this legislation doesn't solve anything by w00dy · 2003-02-27 06:37 · Score: 2, Insightful

This would ban 'direct marketing, notably advertising, via electronic messages' to individuals who had not given consent.
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.
Re:Spammers declare war. by nlvp · 2003-02-27 07:37 · Score: 2, Insightful

I don't know if he's French, but I am, and yes, it is ignorant. And yes, it is old. And yes, it is insulting. And no. It's not funny, nor is it smart.

--
Salocin.com
Re:finally... by freestyle-fiend · 2003-02-27 22:20 · Score: 2, Insightful

> but seriously, why would france want to attack its
> best oil supplier?

Also, US oil companies stand to gain from this war. If it is acceptable for the US to act in its own commercial interests, then why is it not acceptable for France to protect its business? (I am not saying the right course of action will not coincide with anyone's business interests, just that the parties involved have too much of a conflict of interest to be trusted).

> they aren't chickens, they're
> smart business men who just happen to deal with
> tryannical dictators.

Much like US governments who have illegally overthrown democratically elected governments in the name of democracy, supported Saddam Hussein when it suited them to, funded Al Qaeda, backed Isreal's war of aggression against Palestine, permitted its citizens to fund terrorism against Britain, supported dictators in Saudi Arabia and human rights violations in Turkey and imposed poverty on Cuba through unwarranted sanctions. All done in accordance with US business interests.