In article <[log in to unmask]>,
[log in to unmask] writes
>Dear Roland,
>
>I am by no means sure that everyone would agree that it is - there is a
>school of thought that says that e-mail addresses in and of
>themselves are *not* necessarily personal data

I'm afraid that Elizabeth France has issued specific guidance that they
*are*. Also Patricia Hewitt, when e-commerce minister, agreed with this
position in a meeting I had with her and relevant officials.

>It is also clear that some lawyers expected the UK Distance Selling
>Regulations to address the issue of spam, see for example:

But it was my intervention with Ms Hewitt that determined that because
Spam was already illegal, that no further rules were required.

>In any case, if spam was made illegal by the Data Protection Directive
>or the Distance Selling Directive then why did the E-Commerce Directive
>need to *regulate* the way in which commercial e-mails may be sent,

Hoho, you expect joined up Govt from Brussels as well as Westminster!

Well, the situation is that each directive is separately agreed, and
there's no process to assure a lack of mutual contradiction.
Nevertheless, Spam is outlawed by the DP Directive, and the Distance
Selling Directive, and the newly passed Comms DP Directive. The DTI has
also taken the decision not to implement the E-Comms Directive Spam
regulation because they acknowledge that the other directives have
precedence. The DTI doesn't consciously fail to implement things
lightly.

>"Under the E-Commerce Directive, any unsolicited commercial
>communication sent by e-mail must be clearly and unequivocally
>identifiable as such as soon as it is received, and service providers
>must respect 'opt-outs' whereby persons not wishing to receive such
>communications can register their objection."

That's the one. Entirely moot. It's a bit like saying "If you murder
someone you must use a registered firearm".

>and why did the Communications Data Protection Directive need to
>explicitly ban spam e-mail?

Because people needed it to be said in words of one syllable. In fact
some of the recitals I've seen (not sure if they are still current) were
along the lines of "Look you lot, this was outlawed before, but you
didn't take the hint. Let's spell it out for the hard of hearing..."

>This would surely suggest that the EU itself considered the protection
>afforded by the Data Protection Directive (and national implementing
>legislation) and the Distance Selling Directive (and national
>implementing legislation) is rather less than complete.

See above.

>Making the radical assumption that the Roland Perry participating in
>this discussion (presumably in a personal capacity) is the same Roland

Yes, it's the same (my subscription to this list predates my current
3-year old employment by several years).

>Perry as the Director of Public Policy at the London Internet Exchange
>(a totally neutral, not for profit partnership between Internet Service
>Providers) can I pose a question - does it make a significant difference
>to ISPs if spam is controlled by use of the Data Protection Directive
>rather than controlled by the E-Commerce Directive or by the
>Communications Data Protection Directive?

It's very important that we have the CDPD, as the world seems to be full
of people who have difficulty understanding the earlier directives and
need it spelled out!

--
             Roland Perry | tel: +44 1733 207705 | [log in to unmask]
Director of Public Policy | fax: +44 1733 207729 | http://www.linx.net
 London Internet Exchange | mbl: +44 7050 604080 |       /contact/roland

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