As previously reported in ZDNet Australia the ACCC has joined forces with law enforcement agencies from the USA, Japan, Chile and Canada in sending letters to the operators of 1,000 'open ports' across the world, asking them to close the ports down.
"We are concerned that spam can be an elusive issue, and we are determined to work in close cooperation with other domestic and international government agencies to ensure it does not fall through the cracks," said Bhojani.
"The problem with spam is not confined to its contents," said Bhojani. "There are also questions about its very nature, and whether restrictions of some sort would be widely applauded from all quarters."
One man became so annoyed with the level of spam he was receiving he spent several hours researching spam from a Victorian business and proving it had breached the Fair Trading Act by the claims made in its spam.
The ACCC has cooperative relationships with consumer protection law enforcement agencies in 31 countries through the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network, and also has a Cooperation Agreement on consumer protection with the US Federal Trade Commission.
The US Federal Trade Commission has recently completed major studies on spam and found that:
- 86 percent of e-mail addresses that are published on the Web are 'harvested' by spammers, and receive unwanted junk e-mail
- 63 percent of 'remove me from your list' requests are not honoured
- 66 percent of spam messages have falsified information in the 'from' or 'subject' headings or in the text of the e-mail
The ACCC has offered the following advice to consumers wishing to reduce their exposure to spam:
- ask your ISP or IT provider about spam filtering software
- never open e-mail from people you have not heard of
- never respond to unsolicited e-mails, even to 'unsubscribe'
- if the e-mail contains a breach of the Trade Practices Act 1974, keep it while you report it to the ACCC on 1300 302 502, then
- delete the e-mail
There is a pyramid scammer with an Emu Plains address which I have already twice reported to the ACCC. I hope that after I submit the third spam that I have received from this person that the ACCC takes action.