RACSA Has Constitutional Court Support to Block Spammers
The Radiográfica Costarricense (Racsa) - the nations provider of internet service - has been criticized for sanctioning mass e-mailer or "spammers", mainly by the spammers themselves, but now has the backing of the Constitutional Court following a decision that an appeal presented has not merits.

Racsa has been using filters to block certain types of emails based on their content, like child pornography, but it has also been stopping companies from using its mail servers to send out hundres of thousands to millions of email in a single batch by companies that have been banned in other countries, like the United States.

Articles 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 of the "Reglamento General" (general regulations) that governs the Regulación del Correo Electrónico (rules on mass or unwanted emails), dating back to 2002, gives the state institution the power to block accounts and emails it deems are abusing its regulations.

An American company that offers email accounts for commercial purposes took Racsa to court when it had it account cancelled. The company, whose name was not released by Racsa, argued in-constitutionality as a basis for Racsa's actions. The Constitutional Court or Sala IV did not agree and found the argument without merit and backed Racsa's position to cancel, refuse or deny service to any person or company that violates its regulations.

Miguel Montero, a coordinator of mass emails at Racsa, is pleased with the court decision and assures that the institution will continue to sanction violators.

"Before the (spamming) rules were in place in 2002, we used to get some 1.200 to 1.500 complaints daily from customers who were receiving undesired emails. Now, the complaints are down to about 50 a day. Before the regulations, Costa Rica was a paradise for spammers. Casinos and pornographic sites were the major spammers", said Montero.

Montero added that none of its local clients is involved in spamming and is no long considered a spamming country, like as it was listed number 5 in the world for spamming, producing between 7% and 10% of all "junK" emails going through the internet.


What is Spamming?
Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited, bulk messages. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is also applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam,

Spamming is economically viable because advertisers have effectively no operating costs beyond the management of their mailing lists.

Because the barrier to entry is so low, the volume of unsolicited mail has produced other costs which are borne by the public (in terms of lost productivity and fraud) and by Internet service providers, which must add extra capacity to cope with the deluge. Spamming is widely reviled, and has been the subject of legislation in a number of jurisdictions.

The most common purpose for spamming is advertising.

Goods commonly advertised in spam include pornography, unlicensed computer software, medical products such as Viagra, credit card accounts, and fad products.

In part because of the bad reputation (and dubious legal status) which spamming carries, it is chiefly used to carry offers of an ill-reputed or legally questionable nature. Many of the products advertised in spam are fraudulent in nature, such as quack medications and get-rich-quick schemes.

Spam is frequently used to advertise scams, such as diploma mills, advance fee fraud, pyramid schemes, stock pump-and-dump schemes, and phishing. It is also often used to advertise pornography without regard to the age of the recipient, or the legality of such material in the recipient's location.