Canning the SPAM

There is nothing good about spam. Fortunately, it no longer needs to clog up our inboxes or take over our days.
Email spam is a daily irritation. It clogs up your inbox and threatens to hijack your computer. It disrupts important email delivery, reduces productivity and erodes confidence in using email. But have you considered the environmental impacts of spam?
Spam is bad for the planet
Email makes up nearly 80 percent of the world’s correspondence and uses 33 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year. In the US alone, junk mail creates greenhouse gases equivalent to 2.4 million cars idling 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And it gets worse. In 2008, over 62 trillion (yes, I said trillion) spam emails were sent. I need to sit down – the sheer size is overwhelming!
Can you imagine just how much electricity is used to create, send, broadcast, process, filter, store, view and delete that spam. Conservatively, estimates equate it to the output of an entire power plant (around 17 million tonnes of CO2)? Canning the spam is an issue everyone can tackle. And addressing the issue could have a huge impact, not only on your business, but also on the environment.
Most of us don’t want spam, yet we do nothing serious about it. Every morning when we log on to our computers, our first task of the day is to delete the spam we have received overnight. If that doesn’t dampen the mood, I don’t know what does. Offers of Viagra at reduced prices are not what I want to face first thing!
How to ‘can the spam’
By taking some simple precautions, you can ‘can the spam’ and make a difference to the environment. Here are some suggestions.
• Be selective about to whom you give your email address. Often you can be asked for your email address even if the entity making the request has no intention of communicating by email.
• If you like to shop online or subscribe to various websites, consider using a second generic email address. Keep your personal address for people you trust.
• Check that your ISP provider has spam filtering services. If your provider doesn’t, then consider changing your provider.
• Don’t reply to spam emails – this is seen as encouragement and soon you will be bombarded with even more spam.
• Complain to the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).
There is legislation that deals with spam
The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 came into effect on 5 September 2007. One of its aims is to prohibit unsolicited commercial electronic messages (SPAM) with a New Zealand link. If you’re being continually targeted by spam, you should complain to the DIA. They are responsible for investigating complaints
about spam. The Act provides penalties of up to NZ$200,000 for individuals and up to NZ$500,000 for organisations.
What happens to spammers when they’re caught?
In December 2009, Lance Atkinson learnt that sending spam doesn’t pay. The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) identified Lance as the ring leader of an international spam network and he was ordered to pay US$15.15 million by a US federal judge.
Lance Atkinson, who lived in Pelican Waters in Queensland, Australia, admitted his part in the spamming operation in the High Court in Christchurch and paid a financial penalty of NZ$100, 000 plus costs of almost NZ$8,000. The FTC took separate action against him but not his brother Shane and Christchurch courier Roland Smits who were ordered to pay NZ$100,000 and NZ$50,000 respectively for their roles in the operation.
These settlements marked the final stage of Operation Herbal King, an investigation conducted by the DIA’s Anti-spam Compliance Unit, the FTC and other overseas agencies. Within three months of the passing of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act in 2007, the Department had shut down the New Zealand component of the anti-spam organisation, Spamhaus, ranked as the largest pharmaceutical spamming operation in the world. The spam gang deceptively marketed products such as male-enhancement pills, prescription drugs and weight-loss pills.
The operation organised and paid affiliates around the world to send spam emails marketing Herbal King, Elite Herbal and Express Herbal branded pharmaceutical products. These were manufactured and shipped by Tulip Lab of India, through a business known as the Genbucks Affiliate Programme. This business was operated by Genbucks Ltd, a company incorporated in the Republic of Mauritius.
Lance Atkinson’s American accomplice, US resident Jody Smith, has had to turn over nearly all his assets to the FTC. He had to pay approximately US$212,000 and will also assign any rights he has to US$91,000 frozen in the name of one of his co-defendants, and US$547,000 that may be held for his benefit in an Israeli bank. In addition to the US$15.15 million that Atkinson and his company Inet Ventures Pty Ltd have been ordered to pay, the three companies affiliated with Smith are liable for US$3.77 million.
‘Can the spam’ – take steps now
The negative effects of spam are significant and far-reaching. Take steps now to ensure that the emails your business sends are not spam and that you adopt best practices to handle any spam you receive.
Corinne Blumsky
www.ajpark.co.nz