Spammers face £5,000 fines under new laws

Spammers - groups or individuals sending unsolicited emails - could face fines in excess of £5,000 under new rules brought in to regulate the email system.

The measures, to be enforced by the independently run Office of the Information Commissioner, will also give phone, fax and internet users more say over how their personal details are used.

Breach of enforcement orders issued by the Information Commissioner will now be considered a criminal offence liable to a fine of up to £5,000 in a magistrate's court, or an unlimited fine if the trial is before jury.

Anyone who has suffered damages because the regulations have been breached has the right to sue the person responsible for compensation.

The rules, which apply the EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communication in the UK will mean that from today companies or individuals will not be able to send unsolicited commercial emails or text messages to individual subscribers unless the recipient has agreed in advance to receive them. The exception, however, is where businesses have established relationships with their customers.

Also, corporate subscribers are exempt from this rule, which means that much business-to-business e-marketing is not affected. However all direct marketing e-mails, regardless of who they are sent to, will be required to include proper sender and contact details.

Companies using tracking devices, such as 'cookies' on their websites, will now have to tell users they are doing so and provide an opportunity to reject them.

Mobile network operators will be able to provide advertising and subscription services such as traffic information based on personal data, as long as they give subscribers information about this sort of data processing and obtain their consent.

(gmcg)