AW: [anti-abuse-wg] how to detect spambots - SPAMTrusted

 
Hi Ian, hi guys,

we actually enforce rules regarding bulk emails through the Certified Senders Alliance. Enforcement can naturally be applied only to those senders participating in the CSA - however, in Germany our service has become the de facto industry standard for email marketers, and the amount of emails sent by certified senders is huge. Thus, we have gained a very good leverage over this industry.

we at eco maintain a general complaints hotline, and I can't remember having seen any complaint by users or ISPs about a missing opt-out link only. Complaints are about UCEs, and not missing opt-out possibilities. So I guess we are pretty much the only body dealing with the enforcement of those rules like opt-out links, and we have effective sanctions for not sticking to the rules (and opt-out is definitely one of those rules!). 


Actually, our set of rules goes beyond the stipulations made by the EU directive. And we keep on tightening the rules: SPF has now become mandatory for senders (ISPs are left with the choice whether to use this info); DKIM and double-opt-in, for example, are now recommended criteria and will be turned into mandatory criteria with the next revision of the admission criteria. 


We consider this industry standard approach more efficient than any legislative approach. 

Rgds
Sascha
eco association 



-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: anti-abuse-wg-admin at ripe.net [mailto:anti-abuse-wg-admin at ripe.net] Im Auftrag von Ian Eiloart
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 11. März 2009 12:43
An: peter h; anti-abuse-wg at ripe.net
Betreff: Re: [anti-abuse-wg] how to detect spambots - SPAMTrusted



--On 10 March 2009 20:17:50 +0100 peter h <peter at hk.ipsec.se> wrote:

>
> UCE or spam is illegal in some countries, however legal authorities 
> does not seem willing to hunt and procecute.

Under article 13 of EU DIRECTIVE 2002/58/EC, I think that the sending of UCE is illegal in every member state of the EU, which exemption where the recipient is an existing customer of the organisation sending the email. 
Even then, the sender has to give an opt out option with every email, and may only market "similar products or services".

I don't know anywhere that this is properly enforced, though.

--
Ian Eiloart
IT Services, University of Sussex
x3148