China Can’t Stomach the SPAM

In recent years international trade issues with China have been contentious. However, when it comes to controlling the international flow of SPAM China is very much on board. To be sure, China has a strong motivation to act on this problem. According to the Chinese Ministry of Information, China is the world’s 2nd largest producer of SPAM behind the U.S. Thus, any effort to combat this costly nuisance requires a commitment from China. As of yet China has no national legislation dealing with Spam. However, the Chinese Ministry of Information is working on developing such regulations. Perhaps more importantly, China has declared its commitment to make its best efforts to fight Spam and cooperate with other signatories when it signed the London Action Plan on Spam Enforcement Collaboration,

(US/UK-led international efforts to combat spam) on July 20, 2005. According to UK E-Commerce Minister Alun Michael:

”China engaged constructively in the Asia-Europe Meeting on E-Commerce in London in February. We have long been keen to engage with China on the issue of spam, in particular because China is probably the second biggest source of spam in the world. As China reaches the 100m Internet users mark, we welcome this opportunity to work with China to make the Internet safer for users.”

Another important development is the increasing efforts made by private parties to address the problem of SPAM. First, there is the Internet Society of China which includes all of China’s largest ISP’s whose members are bound by its “Standards for web-based public e-mail service” which requires policies against Spam and rates ISP’s partly based on SPAM ratios. For more information, visit: (http://www.isc.org.cn/20020417/ca102762.html). Furthermore, on Sep 2, 2004 the ISC and eBay/MS/America Online/Yahoo! signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which is an agreement to explore areas of cooperation in protecting users from SPAM, developing anti-SPAM technology, promoting public education about Spam, and promoting the punishment of Spammers. (http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/spam/legislation/china-mou-en.html). Additionally, the ISC and the Internet Industry Association (IIA), an Australian agency, signed an agreement to help manage spam, reduce the inappropriate blacklisting of ISPs and minimize the effects on Internet users’ ability to send and receive emails. (http://www.iia.net.au/news/010305.html).

At the end of the day, whether it is in China, the UK, or the US, responsible email marketing adheres to the same key elements:

1. Marketers are required to use the opt-in approach.
2. Prohibition against using false or misleading transmission information.
3. Prohibition against using randomly generated or harvested addresses
4. Prohibition against relaying e-mail from computers without authorization.

Roman Kilun is a Research Analyst at DMO Global, a leading affiliate network solely dedicated to serving international and multicultural markets. Roman, a native born of Uzbekistan, is fluent in Russian and Spanish and focuses on emerging markets. . If you have any questions about online advertising opportunities in Russia or other emerging markets in the online marketing space, DMO Global is a wholly-owned subsidiary of international media and technology company Dragon Media Online, Inc.