Though long dormant in fighting spam, it appears Chile is on the brink of new legal spam-fighting initiatives.
Though Chile is an unranked spammer, it has about three million Internet users, and spam costs the country an estimated
thirty six million dollars a year, mostly to individual users. ISPs have already started filtering initiatives, but their policies and effect are unclear. With dozens of ISPs on the market, even in 1999, individual ISP efforts are limited in scope, and ISPs have varying levels of expertise and funding.
In 2002, a voluntary
self-regulation project was announced between the Undersecretary of Communications and the Association of Internet Suppliers (API). Recommendations included labeling, opt-out, contract enforcement for damages against infringing advertisers, and clear headers. It seems strange that the group missing from these negotiations is the spammers themselves, and maybe that is why these measures provided little solace.
Since these voluntary measures do not seem to have stuck, spam is still problematic in Chile. In February, one of the first meetings of the regional conference for
APEC in Santiago was about controlling spam in Latin America. In 2002, it was possible for Chilean spammers to buy 300,000 e-mail addresses for 150,000 pesos ($230). Just like in the United States, it is still possible to
buy Chilean addresses cheaply.
It seems 2004 has brought new debate to spam policy in Chile. Legislators and the President are debating European-style, American-style, or some other style spam laws. They seemed poised to pass laws soon. Chile is seriously discussing which policies will aid growth of e-commerce and e-mail use and the risks of legitimizing spam with poor legislation. New policies would apply the Law of the Rights of the Consumer to e-mail or could do even more.
Thanks to Pablo Palazzi for insight and help.
For other countries, see the Spam Laws Worldwide Index.