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THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION HAS TAKEN the offensive against that annoying feature of the internet, unsolicited e-mails or spam. It is estimated that over fifty per cent of global e-mail traffic is now spam and that EU businesses lost €2.5 billion in productivity in 2002 due to time spent cleaning up mailboxes. The 'Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications' was passed last year but must be implemented by Member States by the end of October. The main provision of the directive, which effectively outlaws spam, requires individuals to give prior consent before e-mail marketing is sent to them, the so-called 'opt-in' regime. Unsolicited electronic mail to businesses may be forbidden but legislation on this is left up to national governments.
Given the international nature of the internet, enforcement can only be effective with the agreement of countries outside the EU and proposals have been made for an international workshop on spam. Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society has offered to host it and has asked that the issue of international co-operation be included in the action plan to be agreed at the forthcoming world summit on the Information Society. Under the new directive other measures to implement the law can be taken by public authority enforcement, industry codes of conduct and consumer awareness. The Commission will hold a workshop with these interested parties in October. Erkki Liikanen said: 'Combating spam has become a matter for us all and has become one of the most significant issues facing the Internet today. The EU, Member States, industry and consumers all have a role to play in the fight against spam both at the national and international level. We must act before users of e-mails stop using the Internet or refrain from using it to the extent that they otherwise would'.
As well as spam the directive deals with privacy and the processing of personal data in the electronic communications sector (see issue 21 page 4) and forms part of a wider regulatory framework. Mr. Liikanen stressed that the Commission will take appropriate enforcement action against Member States that do not implement the new package in a timely fashion.
Reports , speeches and web pages mentioned on this page are available at :
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'Directive on privacy and electronic communications': : |
http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi! |
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The National Union of Teachers home page: | |
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The National Union of Teachers flexible working page: |
EU calls for safer Internet |
NUT site helps flexibility |
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THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IS CONTINUING its safer internet programme with a call for proposals to establish awareness centres. Other areas covered will be study on children's use of new media, quality labels for web sites and benchmarking of filtering systems. €11.7 million are to be made available for this project which will also include the online uses of mobile 'phones. The hotlines to report illegal internet content, which are already in existence, will also be supported by the new money. The Safer Internet programme has been running since 1999. In its first four years 37 projects involving more than 130 partners from 17 European countries were given funding. Online games, peer-to-peer file transfer, and all forms of real-time communications such as chat rooms and instant messages are included. Particularly designed to help protect children and young people from being exploited, its web site carries extensive details on EU funded projects, events and news of developments in internet security.
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TEACHERS' UNION NUT HAVE REVAMPED their web site with a special emphasis on work flexibility. The attractive home page includes a colour coded subject index, constantly scrolling news headlines as well as links to advice about a number of subjects including flexible working. A brief précis of the article on the web page can be followed up by downloading 'Word' or 'PDF' versions of the whole thing or by e-mailing it. Similar articles include 'NUT guidance for members on new paternity rights', 'Parental leave', 'Time off from work for ante natal care ', 'Adoption Leave', 'Time off for Fertility Treatment' and 'Time off for family and domestic reasons'. The Union says that it will usually advise members to exhaust any informal arrangements for job-share, part-time work or other flexible working patterns before turning to the statutory procedures. The subject index provides links which include 'Pay/conditions', 'Press releases', 'Newly qualified', 'ICT/CPD/Training', 'Health & safety', 'Union services', 'Professional unity', 'Job Club' and 'Conferences'. |
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