European Parliament receives spam petition

Graham Watson MEP launched an attack on email spammers today in the European Parliament when he presented the Legal Affairs Committee with a petition calling for an end to junk email.

The petition - signed by 24,000 European Internet users - called for an end to unsolicited email which Watson described as an invasion of privacy and a huge waste of time and money.

Watson said the petition is an example of online democracy in action.

Simon Davies, director of lobby group Privacy International, welcomed the move. "Terrific - it's great that Watson is championing this at the European Parliament level," he said.

Davies added that he hopes Watson will take a hard line: "The legislation should move toward criminal sanctions for companies responsible for spamming."

He told Silicon.com why legislation needs to be as strong as possible: "Spammers breach a fundamental rule of civil society and they corrode relationships and trust needed to take forward the digital age."

Watson's statement claims over £5bn per year is wasted in phone calls and time spent dealing with unsolicited mail.

Willy de Clerq MEP, who heads up the parliament's Legal Affairs Committee, received the petition. The parliament is expected to vote on spamming in an ecommerce directive later this week.