Stupid Country Watch: New Zealand to Allow Nonprofit Spam
Non-profits and political lobbyists in New Zealand may soon be able spam until the cows—or sheep, as the case may be—come home, even if recipients ask them to stop.
Proving that Utah and Michigan don’t have a monopoly on wacky lawmakers, New Zealand’s commerce select committee has recommended changing the country’s anti-spam bill so its citizens can send unsolicited e-mail and need not stop even if asked by the recipient to do so, as long as the messages are non-commercial, according to a story on Stuff.co.nz.
“It looks like we’ve got everything we’ve been asking for,” the president of nonprofit society InternetNZ, Colin Jackson, was quoted as saying.
Great. Now any crazy New Zealander—sounds like a bar drink doesn’t it? We’ll have a Crazy New Zealander, please—who thinks he’s promoting a righteous cause can spam the crap of his fellow citizens.
What is it about the word “nonprofit” that makes everybody get all warm and fuzzy inside and puts their ability to reason at the lower end of their colons? Being pro-nonprofits is like being pro-puppies. But there are good nonprofits and there are bad nonprofits. Everybody’s definition of which is which varies, and no one wants to hear from one they think is promoting a cause with which they disagree.
Meanwhile, organizations that send a single e-mail aiming to sell something without being able to “reasonably infer” permission from the recipient would be breaking the law under New Zealand’s anti-spam bill. Violators would be subject to fines of up to $325,000 for companies and $130,000 for individuals.
Give New Zealand’s legislators credit for one thing: At least they aren’t pretending to be business friendly while passing a piece of legislation with the potential to screw them.
The bill reportedly now goes back to the country’s parliament for a vote.
