news analysis The dubious smell of processed meat has pervaded the first two weeks of the federal election campaign.

The Prime Minister, his son and several senior coalition politicians were quickly dragged into a fevered brawl over spam e-mails allegedly sent to voters in a number of electorates, including John Howard's seat of Bennelong. The e-mails -- containing Liberal Party promotional content -- were sent on behalf of those politicians by a company, Net Harbour, whose directors include Howard's son, Tim.

The company's Bennelong contract was reportedly signed with the NSW Liberal Party, which was then reimbursed by John Howard. The exact nature of the arrangements with the other politicians is unclear.

The Australian Communications Authority, after initially seeming to rule out an investigation, is now examining claims from Labor's spokesperson on information technology, Kate Lundy, that Net Harbour and the coalition politicians had breached both the spirit and the provisions of the Spam Act. When ZDNet Australia  spoke to the ACA's executive manager, consumer and universal service obligation, John Haydon on Friday morning, he confirmed the investigation was "certainly very very close" to completion.

The issue seems to turn on whether the political exemption contained in the Spam Act applies to the politicians and Net Harbour and whether US-style campaigning methods -- involving address harvesting and mass e-mailing -- were employed. "The provisions of the Spam Act to exempt charities and political parties were clearly intended to protect the activities of those community-based activities only, not to extend to commercial, large-scale spamming," Lundy said in a letter to acting ACA chairman Bob Horton on Monday.

However, ZDNet Australia  : hears the investigation may not have formally started to address the use of e-mail harvesting software until receipt of a second letter from Lundy on Thursday. In addition to confirming the ACA's investigation, Lundy said "It has come to my attention that e-mail harvesting software may have been used to compile the e-mailing lists.

"I understand e-mail software harvesting for the purposes of spamming is illegal," she wrote. I therefore request that you investigate the use of such software as part of the ACA's current investigation".

While ZDNet Australia   has not seen the full terms of reference of the investigation, several serious questions about the issue are up in the air. How did Net Harbour get not only the names of voters residing in Bennelong and the other electorates in question, but be able to match them to e-mail addresses as well? Where does that database reside now and what, if any, privacy protection is attached to it? Can and will it be sold onwards? Net Harbour and the coalition have remained mute on these issues. ZDNet Australia  would be interested to know whether Australia's privacy legislation comes into play here.

Certainly, the ACA understands the political sensitivities associated with the outcome of the investigation. ZDNet Australia   has seen correspondence indicating that the ACA had initially planned to forward its report on the matter to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Helen Coonan, in line with legal advice involving federal election caretaker provisions. A clearly unimpressed Lundy responded with a please explain, apparently prompting the ACA to take further legal advice. For its part, Coonan's office told ZDNet Australia   they had no knowledge of any report and the Minister was not expecting to receive anything on the matter. It'll be interesting to see what path a skittish ACA takes, particularly if the report does make any judgments on whether any breach of the legislation occurred or recommends further investigation.

ZDNet Australia's  news reports on the matter early this week sparked a range of talkback opinion, most of which criticised the Prime Minister's move (and inevitably, in an election campaign, much of it had a poll-related slant). But the most salient -- and simple -- point seemed to us to come from a couple of replies.

And that was: Why?

As one respondent said, "Why on earth (or in cyberspace) would any politician who opens his/her e-mail box each morning, to the usual 20 - 30 spam e-mails, do something as brainless as this?"

Another added "Chances are Howard's spam stunt will backfire. Everyone hates unsolicited e-mail. Howard just looks foolish in thinking he can do something like this and people will put up with it.

"If politicians want to use the Internet properly, there are many experts out there that can show them - using evidence to back things up - that sending spam is probably the least effective way of running a campaign. [However, it is] a sure-fire way of giving your opponents ammunition to use against you".

The only reason that ZDNet Australia can think of as to why Howard himself would go down this path is to help boost his son's business. And the Prime Minister has given a couple of indications that this was what was on his mind by paying for the Bennelong service from his own pocket and telling the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Hobart radio station" "I'm very proud of the fact that my son has started a small business in his 20s and I get a real buzz out of the fact that he's prepared to have a go in small business".

"That is what the future of this country is all about".

• A footnote: Net Harbour appears to have removed the media articles, including some detailing its links with the Liberal Party and senior conservative figures, from its Web site.
  

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