Prior Consent of Receivers Are Required for Sending a Mass E-mails

In the near future, mass e-mails will not be allowed to be sent without prior consent of receivers.

The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) announced Thursday that it will introduce an `Opt-In` system that will require the consent of receivers prior to sending a large number of e-mails, in order to reduce the aggravating damage by spams.

The ministry decided to work on amending the related law soon.

The nation has been adopting an `Opt-Out` system that allows e-mails in bulk as long as receivers do not specifically express their will to reject the spam-mails.

As the government decides to take actions against the way e-mails were sent, a great change is expected in the practice of sending spams.

“The damage by spam-mails including obscene ones is growing day by day,” said Kim Chang-gon, director of Information Planning Office of the ministry. “We will put the `Opt-In` system in practice to establish the order in the cyberspace and reduce the damage of e-mail users.”

Last year, when amending the law to promote more use of the information and communication network and protect information, there was a controversy over which one to adopt between Opt-In and Opt-Out. At that moment, some supported the former. However, some including e-commerce companies argued that it would discourage the Internet marketing. Therefore the latter was adopted in the end.

Spam-mails are e-mails for advertisement that were recklessly sent. They are considered one of the representative dysfunctions of the information age along with computer virus hackings.

Other foreign countries have been regulating spams with the Opt-In system since last year through the `guideline to processing personal information and protecting privacy in the e-communication sector.`

In the meantime, some point out that the judicial authorities should enforce a sterner control as obscene spams, the most troubling, are recklessly sent, even to minors, ignoring the related law in the first place.

Jong sik Kong kong@donga.com