Taking spam off the mail menu

A Ten Minute Rule Bill aiming to bring clarity to communication

Labour MP for Newport West Paul Flynn has won his bid for a bill to ban spam from e-mail inboxes.

Introducing his Ten Minute Rule Bill to the House of Commons Mr Flynn told MPs: "spam is now a multiplying giant parasite that threatens to destroy its host."

The Consumer Protection (Unsolicited E-mails) Bill is to amend the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 to prohibit sending commercial e-mails without the consumer's consent.

The Welsh politician's efforts follow the publication last month of a report by Internet Service Provider (ISP) Yahoo that predicted that junk e-mail will exceed legitimate mail for the first time in the UK this summer.

Yahoo's research found junk mail causes stress and distress to individuals and costs British businesses billions of pounds each year through wasted time and congested computer networks.

A coalition of the UK's largest e-mail providers began to fight back on 22 May with the launch of the government-backed Dump the Junk campaign.

Spam in hand

Spamming is an even greater problem in the US - where Mr Flynn said 90% of junk e-mail comes from - and there are well-documented cases of individuals - now subject to the justice system - sending billions of commercial mails a day.

One of the biggest spam-filtering companies in the world is UK co-operative Spamhaus whose 10 volunteers are on global "spam watch" 24 hours a day.

Spamhaus Director Steve Linford is clear about the consequences of the deluge of junk: "If it is allowed to grow at its present rate, within eight to 12 months it will provoke a meltdown in the global e-mail system because servers cannot cope with that amount of traffic."

Parliamentary progress

In presenting his bill Mr Flynn highlighted the pornographic or medicinal content of junk mail, giving the example of someone who claimed to have responded to all offers to "enhance his maleness" so that his appendage is now 43 metres long.

But he also reinforced the importance of e-mail, describing it as: "The biggest improvement in communications that the world has had since the invention of the telephone."

Spam - so-called because of Monty Python's song about the tinned meat - has also been the subject of a recent Lords debate, led by Lord Sainsbury.

The Labour peer - and Minister for Science and Innovation - drew attention to the EU's Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive to be adopted by the UK in October to make unsolicited e-mails between member states illegal.

The Consumer Protection (Unsolicited E-mails) Bill will get its second reading on 11 July. You can follow the proceedings live on BBC Parliament.