From: Rowan Rafferty
[rowan@wine-region-tours.com]
Sent: Monday, 20 October 2003 5:54
PM
To: ECITA, Committee (SEN)
Subject: Submission to the
Senate Inquiry into the Regulation of Electronic Junk Mail (Spam)
Submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Regulation of Electronic Junk
Mail (Spam)
SUMMARY
Australian Governments, Businesses - particularly
ISP's and associated businesses such as Domain Name registries - and the public
need to put macro and micro mechanisms in place to reduce or eliminate SPAM.
Mere legislation making it illegal within Australia is nowhere near enough. Any
legislation and regulatory mechanisms need to be visionary in their commercial
and future impact.
ASSUMPTION
I commence with the assumption that the idea of
this inquiry is to reduce the amount of SPAM being received by Australian
Internet users and those that may choose to use Australian ISP's, although they
may reside elsewhere, outside Australia. It is unfortunate that Australia
has never acted to regulate/restrict other forms of Junk Communication from
Direct Distribution Houses and Telemarketing businesses, which has helped create
the moral and legal environment conducive to SPAM.
BACKGROUND
As a small business who is entirely reliant on
internet services and who has received over 1200 SPAM messages during the last
month at an estimated cost of $400 per week (in time, ISP charges, mistaken
deletion of messages and lost business), and who uses the email to legitimately
market my services, I could not be more concerned about every aspect of the SPAM
menace.
SUBMISSION
1. Most SPAM emanates from
international, not domestic sources, and whilst Australia needs to show it "has
done the right thing" as a global citizen, it also needs to ensure the impact of
our legislation goes beyond Australia's borders.
2. Any Australian citizen or business involved in
Spamming, no matter where the SPAM originates, should be dealt with as harshly
as the law will allow (See also #5), including the individual or company
appearing on a publicly accessible database, even if they are dealt with in
absentia by the ACA.
3. All Australian ISP's must be given the right and
mandatory obligation to monitor all email traffic to establish the origin of
SPAM. This would include an optional SPAM reporting system from ISP's
users so the ISP's have some validation of what their users consider SPAM.
ISP's are the appropriate starting point to collect the data to analyse, assess
and report on the problem. If ISP's do not wish to participate, shut them down,
they are part of the problem, not the solution. The principle here is
straightforward: if my water supply company sends me dirty water, they fix it
and provide clean water, if my ISP sends me 1000's of SPAM messages, they
(currently) profit from it.
4. A globally accessible database should be
established to which all (Australian) ISP's report origins of
SPAM. ie. IP addresses of known Spammers, and details of the Country of
Origin of those IP addresses and details of offending companies and individuals.
If this could be expanded into a global effort, so much the better.
5. A body (part of the ACA perhaps) should be
established with appropriate resources and charged with the monitoring and
analysis of the SPAM information collected by ISP's. See work done by
SpamCop.net in the USA. Any government, business or individual found to be
associated with the Spammers should then also be publicised and required to show
cause why they should not be debarred from doing business
within Australia's legal jurisdiction for at least 10 years. This would
include ISP's who are known to provide access to Spammers and refuse to stop
them, having all their services blocked to the extent possible by Australian
ISP's. I would also suggest this information would be useful in the lobbying of
governments declining to take action against Spammers. This may include the
threat to bar internet services from that country, to the extent that is
technologically possible.
6. It is essential that Australia makes a concerted
and co-operative effort to reduce or eliminate SPAM through mechanisms designed
to make the best use of all organisations and technical resources, both
government and private and not leave dealing with the SPAM menace
to individuals. The proliferation of SPAM with it's attendant offence to
some, spread of viruses and sheer nuisance value, make this
essential. There is, as always, an appropriate level of personal
responsibility to be taken here.
7. Telstra's recent push to capitalise on the
misfortune of it's customers, rather than take a co-operative and holistic view
of how to attack the base problem is nothing short of disgusting; they and other
ISP's make profits, by default, from SPAM. Blatant profiteering in such a
calculated manner is despicable. The "it needs to be an 'opt-in' service" excuse
is very shabby (See correspondence below) and reflects the lack of
sophistication of the single mechanism being offered. The need for an
ongoing, more universal and technically sophisticated approach by all ISP's
is very obvious.
8. As Australia has several private
organisations working commercially to intelligently address the SPAM problem
e.g.. MessageCare aka SpamTrap, surely it is possible to bring these resources
to bear on the problem in a more cogent and effective manner. Preferably
subsidised by, or at least in co-operation with, the ISP's who
currently profit from SPAM. Australian consumers should be given the choice
through their ISP's of screening mechanisms, not one, imported simply for the
sake of appearing to offer a "service".
9. Potential exists for Australia to lead the world
in offering "clean" email services, which could be exported with great gains to
our economy.
10. I presume the Senate Committee will
acknowledge the issues raised herein, unlike the many Federal politicians who do
not seem to want to know about the SPAM problem.
11. In closing, I trust the Committee recognises
the potential of legislation to vastly increase costs for legitimate
Australian businesses simply wishing to draw attention to their services,
in a controlled and appropriate manner.
Rowan Grant RAFFERTY
Home: 42 McCracken Street, Kensington, VICTORIA 3031
Postal Address:PO
Box 7505, Melbourne, VICTORIA 8004
Phone: 03 9376 7877
Mobile: 0417 763 825
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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 9:42
AM
Subject: TELSTRA & SPAM - part of the
problem, not the solution
The Honourable Daryl Williams MHR
Minister for Communications
(Designate)
Dear Sir
Whilst I applaud any efforts Telstra and others
may make to reduce SPAM, this should not be a
discretionary "added cost" to customers, just part of
the service; not an opportunity for even more revenue.
Telstra is already reaping the benefit of
windfall revenue by the quantity of SPAM it downloads to it's users either by
bandwidth charges on Broadband Services or time charges on
Dial-up; TELSTRA's attempts to capitalise
further on this "fortuitous" revenue by preying on those who will simply
"comply" with their grab for more money is appalling.
As I am sure that there is an added marginal cost
to Telstra to provide this service, why can't
they just do it, comprehensively. Add the cost to the normal
provision of service, but please, not at $2.50 per month.
That amount is more than many retail anti-SPAM
services currently available, let alone the free services provided by those
seriously trying to eradicate the problem not just exploit it, such as TELSTRA is doing.
The economies of scale TELSTRA could bring
to combating SPAM and providing a SPAM free (or SPAM reduced) service to
customers is obvious.
Instead, Telstra
is simply playing to the fear, uncertainty and doubt of many internet
users who do not have the knowledge to appreciate the insidious nature of
what they are doing by the very nature of "adding" this service in this
manner. TELSTRA is now part of the SPAM industry.
In short, TELSTRA is now actively part of
perpetuating the SPAM problem, and is not part of any real solution.
TELSTRA should start providing the service consumers could reasonably expect,
and not buying-in to profiteering from SPAM !
Please assist by raising this critical issue with
Telstra in any way you can.
Yours sincerely