Taiwan’s National Communications Commission has reportedly drafted a bill that would allow spam recipients to claim from $15 to $60 per message in damages from senders.
Reports written in English on the draft are vague, but it appears recipients would have to have previously opted out of e-mail from senders in order to claim the damages.
The draft reportedly bans dictionary attacks—where spammers send thousands or millions of e-mails with randomly generated addresses using combinations of letters added to known domain names in the hopes of reaching a percentage of actual e-mail addresses—on the grounds that they waste resources.
However, the draft does not ban unsolicited commercial e-mail, according to reports.
“To protect the freedom of commercial speech and the freedom to conduct business, the draft bill allows businesses to send unsolicited advertisements once to a new e-mail address on condition that the e-mails be discontinued if the recipient does not wish to continue to receive them,” reports said.
The draft also requires senders of unsolicited e-mail to include free opt-out links in their messages.
The draft is expected to be sent to Taiwan’s executive branch for approval next month, reports said.
