Anti-Spam laws are currently being considered around the globe as it is becoming a large problem. Would you agree if this was introduced?

I would like to see spam become illegal, as it wastes so much time filtering my emails, I probably delete some real e-mails occasionally, and some of the spam e-mails are far too inappropriate for me to check my e-mail in university!

There has been talk about e-mail tax / charges, which I would not like to see - although I can see why this has been talked about. Sending 10,000,000 e-mails at £0.01 each would be very costly for a spammer but a minor charge for personal use. The PC Review thread subscription poster probably sends around 500/day though, so I wouldn't like to see charges introduced (who would the money go to anyway?).

so something should be illegal because it wastes your time?

I would say that anyone has the right to advertise their product. If your contact information becomes public knowledge somehow, then I don't think you can fault them for using it. I think you can conceivably make illegal a lot of the ways in which they obtain contact info, because a lot of these methods are a violation of privacy rights. But I don't think spam itself can be called illegal. just annoying.

I agree that there are lots of other implications making it illegal for that fact, but I can't unsubscribe from these e-mails. I do think that harvesting the information and abusing it to send people 100's of spam e-mails a day should be illegal, to the same extent that sending postal junk mail is.

There will be many knock on effects if it was made illegal, such as the reminders from forums (which are send by options selected on signup) - as some people see these as spam and get quite annoyed over it (even though a box had to be ticked to receive them, and is easily unsubscribable).

I must get about 300 spam e-mails a day, all for Viagra, porn websites, loans, "soft tabs"? and other things - none of them have been a service, but a poorly written e-mail to evade a spam checker.

I hate spam, but I'm voting no because I'm against internet regulation of any kind.

in addition, a lot of times the "unsubscribe" link in a spam email is not an unsubscribe link at all, but the exact opposite. If you click it, then the spam sender knows that he has hit an actively checked email and your spam problems will multiply.

These types of deception should certainly be made illegal. but spam itself? I don't think it is a bad thing by itself, even if it is annoying. Many spammers simply go about it in an obviously fraudulent way.

All senders of spam should be lined up against a wall and shot.

Twice.

I think that makes my feelings clear on the matter

I'd have to say Yes to the poll, because I hate spam. If spam emails were phonecalls, the general public wouldn't stand for it, and I don't see much difference in essence.

I get about 200 emails a day and about 170 -180 is what you call "spam", the reason it should be illegal is that the spammer is using the bandwidth and not the person who receives it. Those on dial-up accounts spending by the hour spend more than half their time deleting mail for which they are paying. Does that not justify it being labled as illegal. Besides, who is the party getting it not all adults are they, 8 year old also get spam and at time with explicit photographs, is that not wrong.

ff8demon: I am sorry but I do not agree with you on this. I have explained the reasons why. I am with all the others who posted on this thread/issue

I do believe the expression I'm looking for is 'Right On'

Spam sucks... Unsolicited and quite often rude, VERY rarely i do get something interesting... Once every 6 months or so... Should be illegal.

Whats bad is when company's sell your email address to third partys who spam you...