The Ministry of Trade plans to tighten control over online advertising activities, particularly spam distributed to mobile phone and e-mail accounts, in order to prevent a predicted boom in unsolicited local advertising next year.

Increasing levels of spam are clogging up internet users’ inboxes

The ministry is compiling a circular to guide commercial advertising activities including enacting a ban on indiscriminate advertising to e-mail and mobile handsets. The circular is expected to be passed in the last quarter this year.

Spam is defined as unsolicited bulk e-mail, most often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups.

Organisations, businesses and individuals are barred from using software that automatically collects e-mail addresses posted on websites. Other banned activities include technical measures that penetrate, secure and collect e-mail addresses illegally, or forward advertising materials via email on computer networks, without permission.

Sending e-mail without governmental permission for advertising purposes, hiding links within text bodies, providing false sender information or creating false website browser of an entity to require receivers to provide their individual information are also in the banning list.

“The circular will increase the ability to force individuals and organisations in Vietnam to cease sending spam, otherwise, a glut of spam is expected to flood local systems sometime next year,” said Nguyen Thanh Hung, director of the e-commerce department under the ministry.

“This is a hot topic with the public, and it causes bad effects on all kinds of businesses,” said Hung.
Current regulations set fines of common advertising activities at a maximum VND30 million ($1,800), incurred by any individual, organisation or company that sends advertising material not targeted personally to or solicited by its recipient.

Hung said with such fines looming, domestic authorities will be able to limit the number of people sending indiscriminate advertisement on e-mails.

The most common organisations generating spam are local small and medium enterprises that take a long time to generate band name awareness in the domestic market, and businesses that sell mostly information technology products and electronics.

Advertising e-mails sent by such companies will become professional and can leak legal regulations easily like international spam does.

Meanwhile, the draft circular defines legitimate advertising email, stipulating a ‘wholesome’ title, content, contact details, and allow receivers to opt-out of the mailing list at least 30 days after receiving the message.
Nguyen Tu Quang, director of Bach Khoa anti-virus centre, said the volume of spam sent by both foreign senders and domestic companies is ten times of the volume of e-mail with useful information on the network, and there are signs of a further increase based on the speed at which spam volume increased in 2005.

According to the Bach Khoa anti-virus centre, spam-related issues are causing a great deal of recipient ire not to mention the congestion of the internet. Up to 57 per cent of people surveyed by the centre said they received at least 20 spam a day in 2005. Only 11 per cent of those people felt they were free of spam as they received no unsolicited e-mails.

Meanwhile, several websites and companies run their businesses by plugging away at e-mail lists, as such measures are cheap and reasonably effective.

E-mail lists of six million local e-mail addresses cost VND500,00 ($31) for a month’s usage.

(Source: Dau tu)