SHOWING ALL the acumen for which politicians are renowned, the upper house of Australia's federal parliament has significantly watered down its proposed anti-spam legislation. What was less-than-perfect legislation but generally headed in the right direction has been effectively emasculated. Or castrated, not to butter the parsnips overmuch. The proposed legislation had been an opt-in model with the proviso that an existing business relationship automatically meant opt-in.
In the upper house, where the right-wing government is in a minority, the opposition and minor parties combined to amend the legislation and allow firms to send emails to anyone they think might be interested in their products, which of course is the fundamental notion behind any spam. The government was unimpressed to say the least. Communications Minister Daryl Williams said in a statement "This is a giant loophole that unscrupulous spammers could not have designed better themselves." and unusually for us, we find ourselves agreeing with a politician.
The amendment to the legislation in the upper house means that it will be returned to the lower house where the government does have a majority and it looks like the issue may be bounced around for a while yet.
News source: The Inq
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