The System Administrators' Guild of Ireland welcomes
the opportunity to comment on the draft Regulations
on Data Protection & Privacy, and thanks the Minister
for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources for his
prompt publication of the draft Statutory Instrument.

1. Definitions

The draft refers to "unsolicited communication for the
purpose of direct marketing". This does not cover all
unsolicited commercial email (UCE, or "Spam") - some
messages purport to be of an advisory/informational nature.

2. Opt-in for non-natural persons

"Opt-in" is proposed for natural persons. However, much
UCE is received by role accounts (postmaster, abuse,
info, sales, etc.) and mailing lists, and this appears
to fall under the "Opt-out" provisions which apply to
"a subscriber, other than an individual". This appears
to contradict the guidance notes, which state that
"spamming will be prohibited except with respect to
subscribers who have indicated that they want to receive
unsolicited e-mails..." It can be difficult to determine
whether an email address represents a natural person, a
mailing list or a role account : the "opt-out" protection
should be extended to all subscribers.


3. Acknowledgement of opt-out

The draft states that in the event of a subscriber
"opting-out", the person so notified of this action
must acknowledge receipt of such instructions "as
soon as practicable following receipt of such a
notification". This is too vague : a period of time
such as "within 10 working days" should be specified.


4. Double opt-in

Whether maliciously or mistakenly, the email addresses
of a subscriber can be added to the list(s) maintained
by those sending UCE without the subscriber's permission,
giving the illusion of the subscriber "opting-in".
It is possible to mitigate this risk by sending an email
to the subscriber asking for confirmation of their intent
to join the list(s), with no list addition taking place
until such a confirmation has been received by the list
owner.


5. Resale of mailing lists/contact information

The unauthorised sale and transfer of lists of email
addresses is rife among persons sending UCE. This is
not addressed by the current draft.