Unsolicited Messaging on the Internet

a legal framework for commercial e-mail

The vast potential of the Internet as a communications channel and its vulnerability to abuse has been thrown into stark contrast by the emerging phenomenon of 'spam'. The potential to reach previously unthinkable numbers of Internet users at minimal cost has proved irresistible to those seeking to advertise their products and services through commercial e-mail. LAWTEL has developed Unsolicited Messaging on the Internet to investigate the ways in which the law can be applied to this area to help safeguard the growth of electronic commerce and ensure legitimate marketing practices are not compromised.

The incongruity at the heart of emerging attempts to regulate unsolicited commercial e-mail is the need to ensure the smooth running of deliver networks whilst retaining the core commercial and libertarian values of internet usage. Unsolicited Messaging on the Internet delegates will hear how US law makers have approached this dilemma in attempts to legislate on 'spam', and how successful US ISPs have been in applying new laws and securing damages for spamming-induced losses.

In Europe the spam debate has focused on proposal for registration lists for users who do not wish to receive unsolicited e-mail. However, the length of time users will have to wait between registration and an end to unsolicited transmissions has led to claims that an Opt-in system of registration would be more effective in bringing an end to users' subsidy of junk mail advertising. A panel of experts at Unsolicited Messaging on the Internet will outline their positions on the Opt-in/Opt-out debate and then consider the relative merits of each case with delegates in an open floor discussion.

With all parties concerned to ensure the growth of electronic commerce, Unsolicited Messaging on the Internet asks if 'spam' is the 'cancer of the internet' and if so then what can be done to cure it? Consumer confidence in the internet as a commercial medium is essential to its continued success and only with the close co-operation lawyers, legislators and network and service providers will this be possible. Unsolicited Messaging on the Internet is the first UK event dedicated to bringing these professionals together and ensuring ever more secure, efficient and profitable exploitation of the internet's vast commercial potential in the future.

08:45 Registration and coffee

09:15 Chair's welcome and opening address

KAREN MASON, HEAD OF LEGAL SERVICES, DEMON INTERNET

09:30 Bulk E-mail - Strangling Electronic Commerce

• Deception in UBE/UCE content
• The volume of UBE/UCE being sent
• Economic and technological burdens on the internet and delivery networks
• The pressure on the bandwidth and restricted internet growth
• Costs and frustrations imposed on consumers

BILL ONWUSAH, ASSISTANT MANAGER -
LITIGATION SUPPORT, LOVELL WHITE DURRANT

10:15 US Legislation on UBE/UCE

• The Netizens Protection Act:
• expanding the provisions of the junk fax law
• placing too great a restriction on advertisers
• The Electronic Mailbox Protection Act:
• prohibiting specific spamming activities
• shifting the burden onto ISPs and end users
• The Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Choice Act:
• filtering UBE/UCE from wanted e-mail
• setting the standard for commencement of private action
• The Virginia and Illinois laws banning false header and routing information

MARK RHOADS, LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR,
UNITED STATES INTERNET COUNCIL

11:00 Morning coffee

11:30 Panel Session: The Opt-in/Opt-out Debate

• The costs of UBE/UCE
• What Internet providers have to say about UBE/UCE
• Opt-in/Opt-out:
• Individual Opt-out: problems of scale
• Opt-out list: problems of administration and compliance
• Advantages of Opt-in
• Who benefits most from Opt-out?
• Who benefits most from Opt-in?
• What Internet users have to say about UBE/UCE
• Regulating Opt-in/Opt-out
• Contractual provisions to help combat spamming

CHRISTINE ODDY, MEP 1994-1999
KEITH MITCHELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LINX
GEORGE MILLS, CHAIRMAN, EUROCAUCE
NABIL SHABKA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BIBLIOTECH
ROBERT PORTER, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, HARBOTTLE & LEWIS

12:30 Lunch

14:00 Balancing Rights and Regulation

• Freedom of expression
• Protest, and the right to send unwanted mail
• Implied solicitation
• Privacy and anonymity
• Regulation and unintended consequences

MALCOLM HUTTY, DIRECTOR, CACIB

14:45 Building Consumer Trust and Confidence in E-commerce

• Business growth
• Education and new user support
• Universally recognised seal/kitemark
• International standing and global acceptance
• Codes of Practice - building on existing self-regulation
• Future developments and threats

DAVID ROBOTTOM, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT,
THE DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION

15:30 Afternoon Tea

16:00 Regulating Commercial E-mail

• Application of data protection regulation
• Labelling and filtering measures
• Third party domain name usage and misrepresentation of origin
• Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1998
• False or misleading subject lines

GLYN MORGAN, PARTNER, TAYLOR JOYNSON GARRETT

16:45 Defeating Spammers

• Obtaining an injunction and claiming damages
• Claiming under breach of contract
• Demonstrating loss and spammer culpability
• ISP property rights and the trespass claim

JEREMY DREW, SOLICITOR, ASHURST MORRIS CRISP

17:30 Chair's summing up and close

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