The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, has just passed a tough new law aimed at spam, unsolicited text messages, and junk faxes. The new law requires a recipient’s opt-in, meaning that a commercial message must be solicited – the recipient must have agreed to receive commercial email from the sender first.
Israeli Communications Minister Dalia Itzik, who sponsored the new law, explained that “State intervention was necessary in order to prevent the continued impingement on the public’s privacy.”
The new law provides for fines of up to $45,000, and also allows an aggrieved party to file a civil complaint, or even to join a class action.
Haim Geron, the senior deputy director genral at the Ministry elaborated, “Israelis are inundated with spam through email and on their cell phones due to the popularity of messaging,” adding that “There is no 100 percent solution, but it will open the door for the ISPs, cellular operators, and the general public to take legal action and maybe lead to a sharp decline in spam.”
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