The Wire

Spam: it’s an unavoidable consequence of using the internet that plagues email users all over the world. Whether it’s Viagra, penis-enlargements or get-rich-quick-schemes, there’s a huge market in trying to sell things you don’t want. The Australian Anti-spam legislation brought in over the weekend is supposed to protect internet users, but only affects some spammers operating out of Australia – which accounts for about 2% of the junk mail that we receive. Under the legislation spammers can be slapped with fines of up to $220,000 per day, and online marketers who reckon their email advertising is legitimate are feeling the heat. Heather Murphy spoke to electronic marketing expert, Dr Tino Fenech from the Department of Business and Law Communications at Griffith University.