Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

UK Spam Controlled by UK's Advertising Standards Agency

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the can-i-have-some-of-that dept.

Goth Biker Babe writes "The Advertising Standards Agency in the UK has outlined new rules which govern text advertisements including SMS spam, e-mail spam, and web pop-ups according to the BBC. All unsolicited advertising must now clearly identify itself as advertising. This is as a direct result of the number of complaints about junk texts, e-mail and web pop-ups. All thought the article doesn't mention it a BBC news report this morning stated that unsolicited advertising must now be opt-in rather than opt-out."

25 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. As if it will help. by Big+Mark · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Most of the spam I get (as a UK resident) comes from the US. Get them to clean up their act and spam would be dead.

    -Mark

    1. Re:As if it will help. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I take exception to that, I have been working diligently over the last few years producing spam in Vietnam, Korea, Tiawan, China and Japan, we've worked very hard to cultivate this regional stereotype especially faced with stiff competition from Nigerian fraudsters, give credit where it's due. Spam doesn't come from the US, it's merely targetted at countries with the most suspectably dumb and gullable people.

  2. Sounds good, but... by Dr.Enormous · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...they're planning to enforce this how? Not that I don't appreciate the sentiment, but I don't think saying "don't spam" is going to mean much to the Nigerians who keep promising me untold riches. Still, I suppose you have to start somewhere.

    1. Re:Sounds good, but... by DickBreath · · Score: 5, Funny

      ....they're planning to enforce this how?

      The same way the UN enforces its resolutions.

      That is to say, if you don't obey this resolution.... Hey! You better had obey this resolution, or... um... or else... um... we're going to pass another resolution if you don't obey!

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
    2. Re:Sounds good, but... by benito27uk · · Score: 5, Informative

      I agree its not going to stop email spam, but I think this is more aimed at text spam to mobile phones, companies are sending out spam texts to people and when they reply they send to premium rate phone numbers costing 50pence/ £1 a minute as these are uk numbers they will hopefully be able to reduce the amount of people - especially children replying to them and more companies like this one http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2223504.stm will get fined large amounts

    3. Re:Sounds good, but... by NexusTw1n · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's a start. Spam is an international problem, and there is no chance that Korea or even US spammers are going to pay any attention to the ASA.

      But it is a start. About 5% of my spam is clearly UK based, companies offering to reduce my phone bill, or grey box PCs for 200 quid etc. Hopefully I can now stop this small percentage getting through.

      Bear in mind this is also for mobile text spam, which while not currently a massive problem, if not nipped in the bud could become a worse problem than email spam. Hopefully we'll see the ASA dishing out 50 grand fines , the US will see profit this gives the government and follow suit.

      --
      It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. --Albert Einstein
    4. Re:Sounds good, but... by GammaTau · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ...they're planning to enforce this how? Not that I don't appreciate the sentiment, but I don't think saying "don't spam" is going to mean much to the Nigerians who keep promising me untold riches. Still, I suppose you have to start somewhere.

      I assume you are thinking of e-mail instead of SMS messages to cell phones. The SMS messages can be traced accurately enough and thus whatever punishments laws or regulations set, they can be enforced.

    5. Re:Sounds good, but... by MrFredBloggs · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "they're planning to enforce this how?"

      The ASA has no teeth. It's a self-regulatory body. If a member breaches it, they`ll be `told off` by the ASA, but there are no mandatory fines, and spammers will NOT ever be members of the - this is not a law.

      Nothing to see here.

  3. why would this reduce spam?? by in_ur_face · · Score: 3, Insightful
    "All unsolicited advertising must now clearly identify itself as advertising."

    so now i'll get spam which says that it is spam...will this reduce the amount i get? I guess now I can have better email filters, but I dont think it is a real solution to the problem..

  4. ASA Weak and Feable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The ASA guidelines are voluntary not statutory, they're an industry body that has no legal power, the most they can do is pass a complaint over to Dept Trade & Industry when serious illegality has occured.

    Apparently the ASA had a massive increase in complaints regarding mobile txt messages, they went tenfold... from 6 to 60 complaints in a year! Anyway, by June I suspect not a single spam will enter my inbox... errr, right.

  5. Not going to help by jjhplus9 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Less than 1% of the spam that hits hour servers is from a source inside the UK.
    It is very hard indeed to imagine how this is going to help stem the flow of spam.
    The restrictions on banner addvertising is going to be interesting in practice.
    Anyone care to guesse how these regulations are going to be interpreted pragmatically?
    How will it affect already shrinking banner advert revenues?

  6. EU Regulations by Kr3m3Puff · · Score: 5, Informative

    Probally the main reason it doesn't mention that it needs to be Opt-In is because of EU Privacy rules, all unsolicted advertising is supposed to be Opt-In.

    All forms have to be written that you proactively allow sharing of your information, if you don't expressily give your consent, your information cannot be shared.

    The US could learn a lot from EU Privacy Laws.

    --
    D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M.
    1. Re:EU Regulations by Sheetrock · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Yours isn't the first comment I've seen mentioning the tidal wave of spam from the U.S., yet here in the middle of this great land I get spam coming from just about everywhere but America (and junk faxes 'from' the U.K. to boot.) Yet they all seem to use dollars too, or are pushing a pump-and-dump scheme with stocks on the NYSE/Nasdaq. Who would have thought spammers lie? :)

      I've pushed the idea before and I will again that one (meaningful) country needs to set the standard of no spam on a national level and use a scheme of border router filters (in the literal sense!) on SMTP traffic to block everything except from/to pairs whitelisted by citizens and SMTP traffic from countries that meet the no-spam standards. I doubt the U.S. would be the first adopter and frankly don't care -- it'd be a good kick to the ass to get our representatives serious about fixing things if the E.U. implemented something like this.

      There are an array of technical alternatives that could be strung together into a workable solution, but it involves an infrastructure update. I'm informed that this is about as likely to happen as the deployment of IPv6 and, therefore, am not holding my breath.

      --

      Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
      -- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.




  7. Great, but... by meringuoid · · Score: 3, Insightful
    ... a UK law will only affect spam sent by UK citizens. I don't get much of that. I see a whole hell of a lot of stuff from the US, and occasionally from China or Korea (not just from America _via_ China, but actually sent by the Chinese); hardly ever anything from Europe.

    The only thing I see from British spammers is pyramid schemes and the guy on Blueyonder who keeps sending out virus mails. Hopefully they'll get whacked a bit harder now, which can only be a good thing :-)

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  8. ASA != Government by meringuoid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They're an industry self-regulatory body. This means that respectable advertisers won't spam, but mainsleaze was never the big problem. Pyramid frauds and penis pill salesmen don't care what the ASA says.

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  9. can someone explain this? by brmic · · Score: 5, Funny

    And the rule which stops car advertisers encouraging anti-social or irresponsible driving has been strengthened - now they must not even condone bad driving.

    does it really say that before the Advertising Standards Authority (whoever that is) stepped in, car advertisers in the UK promoted road rage and hoped to sell cars by claiming you could hit children and old ladies without the slightest dent to your cherished chrome bumper?

  10. Unsolicited advertising must be opt in by wowbagger · · Score: 3, Funny
    ...unsolicited advertising must be opt in...


    Unsolicited advertising means advertising you did not ask for.

    But to opt in means you have asked for it.

    But if you have asked for it, it is not unsolicited.

    LOGIC ERROR: Norman, co-ordinate
    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers
  11. Is this why God created (gasp) Government? by release7 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nobody ever said Government was perfect (and I defy you to find an institution that is), but dammit, it's the only thing we have to bring order and law to a world of chaos. The anti-government, anti-regulation libertarian rhetoric that has captured the popular mind in the last couple of decades has got to come to an end before the spam problem will be solved in the US. The UK is on the right track.

    --

    <a href="http://www.joblessjimmy.com">Work is dumb and so is Jobless Jimmy.</a>

    1. Re:Is this why God created (gasp) Government? by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 3, Funny

      Actually, God created government so that government could create the Net. Spam was an unintended consequence -- kinda like when God said, "Let there be beer," I'm sure He wasn't thinking of Budweiser.

      --
      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
  12. This is basically self-protection by Doctor+Hu · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The ASA is a trade association that draws up voluntary guidelines to be followed by companies who care about being seen to be 'responsible'. Enough people are now sufficiently irritated by the floods of unsolicited dreck that it's now in the interests of the major advertisers to scale back their use of the mechanism, so lo and behold the ASA comes up and says 'you shouldn't do that'.

    The effects are likely to be marginal at best. Most large companies are smart enough not to irritate potential customers this way. The slimebrains that peddle Big Man and Easy Money snake-oil won't take any notice. Maybe it will have some effect on the armies of small companies that are competing to replace your windows with new! improved! double-glazed! fittings! - we can but hope.

    I can't help being reminded that it was an early Anglo-saxon ruler, Kanute, who famously ordered the tide not to come in.

  13. Not original, but correct.. by CmdrTostado · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If no-one responded to spam, there would be no market for the "service" and the industry would just dry up and blow away, some-one out there is replying to the junk. Where there is a demand, there will be a service. Don't reply to spam..

    I don't like green eggs and spam Sam I am..

  14. uh-huh by Captain_Stupendous · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How exactly does "unsolicited" work with "opt-in"? I thought unsolicited was "opt-out" by definition?

    --


    I am alone, yet I also surf the universal backwash of undifferentiated Being, which is LOVE.
  15. Intentify as spam by broothal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Great, so now I can add a procmail filter to remove all mails beginning with [ADV] and voila - Bob's your uncle and I'm free of spam.

    Oh yeah - I also need to filter (adv)..and [AD]...and [-ad-]... and {A - D - V - E - E - R - T - I - S - M - E - N - T } and... well, you get my drift. The point is this:

    Spam that identifies itself as spam is still spam, and I already know it's spam without a prefix. So what good is it?
    With a standard prefix, Joe Luser can use his Outlook to filter the spam after it has been downloaded. Now, those who does that, wouldn't buy anything from spammers anyway. So the spammer doesn't care. To accomplish his return rate, he just sends out another million emails.. and another one.

    There's only one law that will ever work. Don't send commercial email unless the receiver asked for it. All the other suggestions and implementations are just jumping through hoops.

    /Christian

  16. But information wants to be FREE!! by goldspider · · Score: 3, Funny
    These advertisers shouldn't be viewed as capitalist pigs trying to peddle worthless products upon a frustrated public.

    They should be revered for the incredible volume of information they liberate and release to all of us on a daily basis!

    --
    "Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
  17. SMS by samhalliday · · Score: 3, Interesting
    i dont think this will effect email or web browsing any... but this is fantastic news none the less as previously it was only phone and mail which was registered, and if anyone sent you any advertisements in the UK (if you are on the TPS telephone preference service, or mail equivalent) you can get them in big shit for it... legally.

    this is good becuase now i wont get any SMS's from my own provider who i dont care to listen to as i am sure a similar system will be implemented for SMS.

    The advertisement companies will listen to this in the UK. on SMS you must give some form of UK contact details for sales (otherwise the text was wasted), and if you are spamming, you WILL be caught.

    obviously with the international nature of the internet, this will not effect email spam, but at least you can complain to someone now if its .uk!