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We Did It!

EU Parliament "Opts In"

Commercial Email in European Economic Area will not be allowed without recipients' prior consent

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The Problem

"Spamming is the scourge of electronic-mail and newsgroups on the Internet. It can seriously interfere with the operation of public services, to say nothing of the effect it may have on any individual's e-mail mail system. ... Spammers are, in effect, taking resources away from users and service suppliers without compensation and without authorization."

- Vint Cerf, Senior Vice President, MCI
and acknowledged "Father of the Internet"

"The spam wars are about rendering email useless for unsolicited advertising before unsolicited advertising renders email useless for communication."

- Walter Dnes & Jeff Wynn
in news.admin.net-abuse.email

"The Internet relies on the cooperative use of private resources. Sending email is a privilege, not a right."

- John F. Hall
in news.admin.net-abuse.email

Unsolicited commercial email (UCE), more commonly known as "spam," is a growing problem on the Internet. If you have used the Internet for any length of time, you have probably received solicitations via email to purchase products or services.

It is not as simple as just clicking the "Delete" key. Junk email shifts the costs of advertising from the advertiser to the recipient. With one simple email account, a junk emailer can send one message to millions of recipients, turning that message into hundreds, even thousands of Megabytes of data. While it may only cost a junk mailer a tiny amount to send the UCE, it costs individuals and their Internet Service Providers countless millions of dollars in lost time, lost money, extra staff hours, damaged equipment, lost productivity, and lost business opportunities. And it's very annoying as well.

Need more details? Read more about The Problem. Have a look at the numbers.
 

A Solution

Originating in the USA, CAUCE is a group of Internet users who are fed up with spam and have formed a coalition to promote legislation which would outlaw UCE. Good work has already been done with amendments to US Law originating fom CAUCE members.  The founders of CAUCE are long-time Net Activists -- real "Netizens" -- who understand the power of this medium and the dangers of massive, uncontrolled Internet abuse. We're not a big corporation with a hidden marketing agenda; we're not morality crusaders with little Internet knowledge and a political axe to grind. For a good overview of our preferred solution read Opt In vs. Opt Out, and the Opt-In Manifesto.

EuroCAUCE is a European branch of CAUCE, dedicated to the fight against UCE in Europe

For regular updates on legislative developments and other CAUCE activities, see CAUCE's Latest News and EuroCAUCE's Latest News.
 

The Dangers

Powerful forces are marching teams of lobbyists and spending lots of money to preserve their "right" to fill your email box with junk. DO NOT BE FOOLED!

These "solutions to spam" are supported by the junk emailers and pro-junk mail forces. They will mean more spam in your mailbox -- not less!
 

Who We Are

EuroCAUCE is an all-volunteer, ad hoc coalition of European Internet users, network technology professionals, and Internet Service Provider administrators. EuroCAUCE's founders are the people at the front lines of the junk email war.

Our members include students, businesspeople, hobbyists, professionals, speaking a variety of languages, and coming from many different cultures. What unites us is our opposition to the theft of resources that UCE represents, and our unwillingness to accept the destruction of what promises to be a wonderful means of communication which has the potential of bringing us even closer together.

EuroCAUCE accepts no money! We are not in this for money. We are all volunteers! CAUCE's representatives receive no compensation for this work. Unlike the junk emailers, we pay our own way.
 

How You Can Help

Join EuroCAUCE! It costs nothing. By joining, you will be registering your dislike of spam. What's the catch? Our greatest asset is our constituency -- our Members. In order to keep in touch, we will need the most basic contact info: your email address. This information is kept in a secure database and will not be released to anyone without your explicit permission.

Promote EuroCAUCE! Tell the world that you support an end to Junk Email by mentioning CAUCE in your email signature line, or by adding a CAUCE graphic and link on your web page. Check our our promotion page for sample graphics and signature blocks.

Talk to EuroCAUCE! After you've read our pages and our FAQ, do you still have questions? Please let us know.

Complain about a Junk Emailer If you want to know how junk emailers do what they do, or how to track them back to their home ISP to register a complaint, the Anti-Spam Resources on our links page is the place to start!

International Readers! Don't be misled by our focus on the European Union! Our aim is to coordinate efforts throughout the entire area covered by RIPE. Those outside the RIPE area can still talk to us, or to our partner organisations CAUCE and CAUCE Canada in North America, CAUCE India on the Subcontinent, or CAUBE.AU Down Under. Where ever you are, we'll be very pleased if you decide to Promote EuroCAUCE!

Fraudulent mail has been sent out by people trying to make the original CAUCE look bad. To protect against forgeries, use the EuroCAUCE PGP Key and use PGP software (available from either The PGPi Project or The GNU Privacy Guard) to authenticate any official communications from us!