Bill fails to stop overseas spam

A bill before Parliament designed to crack down on email and text spam will only apply to messages sent within New Zealand.

The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Bill could see organisations which send unsolicited spam fined up to $500,000.

The legislation would put New Zealand in line with a lot of other governments which have created anti-spam legislation.

The New Zealand Marketing Association says in theory it is a good idea, but chief executive Keith Norris says the bill will not protect the public from receiving mass marketing emails from overseas.

He says the proposed bill needs to be carefully written to ensure it offers the fullest protection possible to the public.

- NEWSTALK ZB