Spamming - FTC's attack echoed in Europe

France's data protection agency, the Commission Nationale Informatique et Libert?s (CNIL), after running a web site inviting dissatisfied internet users to report spamming occurrences since July 2002, is stepping up the pressure against unsolicited e-mails, for a stricter enforcement of the law of January 6, 1978 (article 25).

The French CNIL recently made public the result of a three month study, largely based on the input obtained from this web site and disclosed the name of five companies, which are clearly chastised for carrying out spamming activities.

Over three months, more than 320,000 messages have been received by this web site. This shows interesting figures; 85 % of the spams are in the English language, while 8 % are from Asia and 7 % are in the French language. 85 % are targeted at individuals/consumers, while 15 % aim at businesses.

While pornography accounts for 42 % of this spamming activity, 13 % relates to health and 39 % to financial services.

Regarding the disclosure of names of spamming culprits, the CNIL has been very clear about the fact that its mission included action against the unauthorized used of e-mail addresses. It has consequently decided to report to the French Public Prosecutor activities consisting of the unauthorized collection of e-mail addresses. This occurred only a few times since the CNIL's inception (18 times - including these 5 occurrences - since 1978).

This reporting related to 4 French companies and one American company which, in the eyes of the CNIL, clearly violated the rules and should not have used material (i.e., e-mail addresses) that was not authorized for use.

This shows a sustained interest for this form of advertising (for details, see www.cnil.fr).