I’m getting some spam from some UK companies to a personal email address. I called and spoke to one of them and they said it won’t happen again but it continues to do so. I looked into complaining officially, under the new regulations that make the EC’s Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications law in the UK.
Under the new law, spammers can be fined £5,000 in a magistrates court or an unlimited penalty from a jury.
Yet it appears it is really up to me to pursue charges through the courts. The Information Commissioners Office, who enforce the new regulations, appear largely neutered (as predicted):
If my complaint is upheld, will the organisation be punished?
If we think the organisation has breached the regulations, we can ask them to put things right, but we cannot punish them for breaking the law.
If my complaint is upheld, will I be entitled to compensation?
We have no powers to award compensation . If you have suffered a loss because an organisation or individual has broken the law, you may be entitled to compensation, but you must claim this through the courts.
The right to compensation applies even if you don’t report the problem to us. You can make a claim to the court whether or not we have agreed that the law has been broken.
No doubt this will cost a lot of my time and money. We should build a simple kit, with some form letters and instructions on pursuing compensation.
Or just take enforcement into our own hands and report them to something like Spamhaus.
John Leach is a human being living in Leeds, UK.