Tuesday, March 21, 2006
YVONNE CHIA
The mainland is taking several steps to combat the growing problem of spam.
At the end of last year, there were 111 million internet users in China,
64.7 per cent of them considered frequent users who received an average 16.8
junk e-mails a week.
In real numbers, about 50 billion e-mails were sent and received in China
last year, about 60 per cent of them spam.
What is more, the spam problem does not stop at China's borders. Anti-virus
software maker Sophos says China accounted for 15.7 per cent of the world's
spam, making it the No 3 producer.
Recent government measures to combat spam, however, are not likely to alter
these numbers in any significant way.
The Ministry of Information Industry has adopted what it calls the Measures
for the Administration of Internet E-mails, China's first anti-spam
initiative. The new regulations take effect on March 30.
The rules, set by the central government, are administrative in nature. Any
person operating an e-mail service for mainland internet users must comply
with the regulations, which are designed for e-mail service providers.
A provider is defined as any person in the service supply chain who is
involved in delivering and helping users to receive e-mail. Service
providers must register with the government and obtain a licence before
providing e-mail services. Those who violate the regulations face warnings
or penalties of up to 30,000 yuan, and risk losing their licence.
China has adopted several other measures that, while they may not reduce
spam, at least show that government officials are concerned about the
problem.
One such step is the establishment of the Internet Spam Complaint Reporting
Centre. Already up and running, the centre is operated by the Internet
Society of China, a group that has spearheaded China's anti-spam initiative.
E-mail users can send their spam complaints to abuse@anti-spam.cn.
The mainland has also launched Internet Sweep Day, held on February 28, to
raise public awareness of spam.
Other measures include the "opt-in" system. Under the regulations, firms are
barred from sending unsolicited commercial messages without prior consent
from the recipients. All such e-mail must bear the subject header "AD" or
the Chinese character for advertisement. This could reduce unwanted e-mail
from legitimate businesses, but will not cut spam from shady operators
offering fake drugs or knock-off goods.
The primary problem with official efforts to combat spam is that the scope
is very narrow. The administrative rules apply only to e-mail containing
commercial advertisements as part of their content. In most other legal
jurisdictions, such as the United States, anti-spam rules encompass all
unsolicited e-mail.
Also, what exactly "commercial advertisement" constitutes is not clearly
defined in the regulations and companies may find it difficult to identify
the limits.
Take this real-life example: I recently sent a personalised note to several
clients alerting them to China's new anti-spam rules. In the e-mail, I
outlined possible legal pitfalls. At the end of the message, as always, I
let recipients know that they could call me if they needed any help. Can
this be considered a "commercial advertisement"?
If my e-mail contains a standardised description of our firm's international
standing, as found in many corporate e-mails, does this constitute a
"commercial advertisement"?
Add to this the constraint that under the opt-in scheme I must first seek
permission to send e-mails such as these.
It would defeat the purpose of efficient e-mail communication if I had to
call up each client to seek prior consent. An opt-out mechanism would be
better. The mainland rules do provide one, but the execution is flawed.
The regulations state that an "e-mail deliverer" must stop delivery of any
messages containing commercial advertisements if a recipient first consents
to receiving an e-mail but later changes his mind. On the face of it, this
is unworkable. How is an internet service provider to know which e-mails are
to be stopped?
Surely the burden should be on senders to remove recipients from their spam
lists.
Internet service providers are just like letter carriers. They do not read
the content of e-mails and cannot be held responsible for keeping records of
which e-mail users do or do not wish to receive unsolicited e-mail.
At the end of the day, the core of the problem is unsolicited e-mail between
two parties that have no pre-existing business relationship - the come-ons
for Viagra, low-cost mortgages and the like.
But the mainland's spam regulations fail to address this.
China's efforts as a whole are to be applauded, but in reality they will not
deter the most ardent spammers.
Labels: Information Security
