7. DARIEN FENTON (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Internal Affairs
What is the Government doing to combat unsolicited emails?
Hon RICK BARKER (Minister of Internal Affairs) Link to this
The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 was passed to help reduce spam with a New Zealand link. The legislation took effect yesterday, following a 6-month transition period to allow organisations to get their email practices and database systems in order. The Act alone will not solve the issue of spam. However, enforcement agencies are now in a position to bring New Zealand - based spammers to task for all their illegitimate activities.
I have seen reports on emails being received or not received, read or not read, opened or not opened, forwarded or not forwarded, replied to or not replied to, and on the contents of emails being remembered or not remembered, discussed or not discussed, actioned or not actioned. That report was called The Hollow Men, and although the new Act has the power to stop unsolicited emails, it will not help John Key’s selective memory.