Hong Kong begins anti-spam campaign

Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology John Tsang said spamming has affected almost everyone in Hong Kong. His plans address e-mail, fax and mobile phone spam.

"The fixed telecommunications network service operators in Hong Kong received more than 36,000 junk fax complaints in 2004," said Mr Tsang. "A survey conducted by the Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association found that spam had risen to account for around 60% of all e-mails, with individual members experiencing as much as 90% of their e-mails being spam."

The Government will launch a campaign called STEPS, which stands for:

Strengthening existing regulatory measures: the Government will work with telcos to penalise advertisers who spam recipients on the "not-to-call" list by reducing the timeframe required to cut off their access to telco services, which is their means to send out fax advertisements; it will also extend an existing code of practice for mobile operators to cover all SMS and MMS unsolicited promotional messages, including those sent by the operators themselves).

• Technical solutions: the Government will collaborate with the industry to organise seminars, conferences and exhibitions to promote the latest anti-spam technical solutions to all users.
• Education: consumers will be encouraged not to respond to spam, much less buy the goods it promotes.
• Partnerships: Mr Tsang highlighted that one possible partnership was the development of a common blacklist to filter spam at the local internet service provider level. Globally, Mr Tsang said that the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau would soon become one of the Founding Signatories of a Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding on Co-operation in Countering Spam.
• Statutory measures: no details were given, but Mr Tsang said that the Government believed it would be necessary to enact legislation to regulate spamming. "We have an open mind on the exact form and content of the legislation," said Mr Tsang, "but the key is to strike the right balance between the need to discourage spamming and to enable legitimate e-marketing activities to develop properly."

Mr Tsang said the Government will engage representative stakeholder groups over the next few months "for detailed and pragmatic discussions." He intends to introduce the full draft legislation into the Legislative Council some time next year.

Peter Bullock, a partner in Pinsent Masons' Hong Kong office, commented:

"Although 95% of spam received in Hong Kong originates from outside the territory, and so even the most successful of anti-spam legislation promulgated by Hong Kong's Legco is unlikely to severely dent the overall amount of spam received into Hong Kong's homes and offices, the intent to legislate is most welcome as it should avoid Hong Kong becoming a jurisdiction of choice for spammers, as well as sending the message to other legislatures that Hong Kong has an eye on global IT issues."