Russian State Duma to fight SPAM

Russian State Duma has introduced a new bill aimed to fight spam—unauthorized mass e-mailing.

Annually, Russia loses up to $200 mln USD due to such activity; in the US and Europe the numbers are in billions.

According to the author of the bill, member of the “United Russia” party Vladimir Medinsky, it has been proposed to amend federal advertising law, Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as well as the Federal Code of law violations.

Spammers, according to Medinsky, have to hold criminal liability for spreading advertising by means of mass e-mailing, SMS messaging and faxing.

Delegates suggest to fine for the soliciting 300-1000 worth of minimal wages, reports “Finmarket.” Clause 28 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (which concerns crimes in the sphere of computer generated information) is expected to be fulfilled by the article of “Mass e-mailing.” It has also been proposed to establish certain fines in the amount of 500 000 rubles or up to two years of public service.

According to the president of social initiatives and research Fund Rambler Ivan Zasursky, who personally participated in developing the bill, a company loses up to $200 USD per employee per year.

Experts claim that total amount of spam has significantly increased last year. Whereas in 2002 spam constituted 30-40% from a total number of e-mails, in summer of 2003 spam has risen up to 50%; today spam makes up 80% of all correspondence within Russian public email service providers.