The enforcer of the UK's anti-spam laws, the Office of the Information Commissioner (ICO), has received about 600 spam complaints during the last year, but it has taken no legal action. However, the ICO has not been idle, it also oversees Personal Data Protection issues, and it has prosecuted 12 cases under that law.
About half of the spam complaints received were outside of the scope of the regulations, and the ICO also did not follow-up cases involving overseas spammers, or spammers who could not be identified. The ICO had the most success in encouraging reputable companies to improve their practices.
However, the ICO was ineffective against less scrupulous companies who routinely ignored the warning letters. They could also delay action against them for up to a year by simply appealing against the Enforcement Notice. The ICO is lobbying the Department of Trade and Industry for powers to stop spammers immediately, and for better information-gathering powers.
Comment by Allan Dyer:
Hong Kong’s Legislators should look carefully at the UK’s experience when developing our legislation. Key areas are:
- Why are so many of the complaints outside the scope of the regulations? There is some kind of mismatch between what people need or expect, and what the regulations can do.
- The law is successful in encouraging reputable companies to behave responsibly.
- There needs to be sufficient investigation and enforcement power to pursue those who flout the regulations in a timely manner.