Act continues to can spam, Gov says

The Federal Government is claiming a win for its Spam Act 2003 following a review of the anti-spam legislation.

ICT Minister Helen Coonan said the review found that the legislation haf enabled active enforcement, productive industry partnerships and international cooperation against the problem of unsolicited email.

More than 60 submissions were received late last year in response to an issue paper seeking to review the legislation, Coonan said.

The review also found the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) had undertaken effective and appropriate enforcement of the Spam Act.

Coonan said that since the ACMA began its enforcement activities, Australia had dropped from 10th to 23rd on the list of worldwide sources of spam. Spam from the entire Australasia region now accounts for less than 0.8 percent of global spam.

In related news, the Do Not Call Register legislation introduced to earlier this month has been passed through Parliament.

The legislation seeks to address increasing community concern about unsolicited telemarketing calls through the establishment of a national Do Not Call Register.

The register allows people to opt out from receiving telemarketing calls.