Comments on: UK Spam laws largely useless http://johnleach.co.uk/words/321/uk-spam-laws-largely-useless Stuff I think, see and do Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:56:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Anon http://johnleach.co.uk/words/321/uk-spam-laws-largely-useless/comment-page-1#comment-67865 Anon Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:51:11 +0000 http://johnleach.co.uk/words/?p=321#comment-67865 I am in the early stages of possibly taking a UK company to court over this. I have no doubt that a judge will find that they broke the law as they did not get my consent to send me their marketing email. They merely harvested my email from an online jobs site (and they have admitted to this). The only problem is deciding how much compensation to claim. I have to show that I have suffered damages as a result of breaking the law. I am thinking of arguing that the receiving of the email causes distress and annoyance as I have to sift through hundreds of spam messages per day, of which the email in question was a part of. Also, that the time and effort in defending my rights under the law should be reimbursed, and thirdly that a Sheriff's Court in Scotland (although there has been no test case in England so far - which is where I will be claiming) ruled that the amount shouldn't be so little that it didn't encourage respect for the law. The claimant in this case was awarded £750. I am also worried about claiming too little, because if my case is successful, it will set a precedent in England that is too lenient on spam - which is a huge social problem. I'm thinking of claiming £500. What do you think about all this John? I am in the early stages of possibly taking a UK company to court over this. I have no doubt that a judge will find that they broke the law as they did not get my consent to send me their marketing email. They merely harvested my email from an online jobs site (and they have admitted to this).

The only problem is deciding how much compensation to claim. I have to show that I have suffered damages as a result of breaking the law. I am thinking of arguing that the receiving of the email causes distress and annoyance as I have to sift through hundreds of spam messages per day, of which the email in question was a part of. Also, that the time and effort in defending my rights under the law should be reimbursed, and thirdly that a Sheriff’s Court in Scotland (although there has been no test case in England so far – which is where I will be claiming) ruled that the amount shouldn’t be so little that it didn’t encourage respect for the law. The claimant in this case was awarded £750.

I am also worried about claiming too little, because if my case is successful, it will set a precedent in England that is too lenient on spam – which is a huge social problem.

I’m thinking of claiming £500. What do you think about all this John?

]]>