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Government officials in Hong Kong have recently enacted tough new anti-spam legislation. According to a Yahoo News article the new law will “regulate all messages sent by electronic means that advertise or promote goods or services, including faxes, emails, SMS text and pre-recorded voice messages”.
Penalties for violating the new anti-spam legislation include fines up to $128,000 and jail time for up to 5 years. This new legislation does not address mainland China specifically; however, it does seem to be an evolution of September 2006 legislation in China concerning email data retention.
In addition to enacting legislation addressing spam, China has also recently been trying to take legal and enforcement measures to address rampant copyright infringement within their borders. All of these efforts are an attempt to foster growth in their surging market economy by improving transparency within the normally closed communist nation.
Since a large portion of unsolicited commercial messages originate from Asian nations, it’s good to see a law pass which addresses the subject. While I’m not one to condone imprisoning spammers for up to 5 years, I am grateful Hong Kong legislators have decided to address the problem.
