An Act of Canned Ham

> DomPost: "Kiwi spammer gets hefty fine" We should not be proud of the (first) $100,000 "fine" imposed on a spammer this week. Don't get me wrong. I hate spam. But the penalty regime within the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 has worried me for some time. Basically it enacts a criminal penalty regime - maximum $200,000 fine (or $500,000 if a company), search warrants, infringement notices, etc - but then calls it a "civil liability" regime. Notably, the usual protections of the criminal law - including the high burden of proof - are excluded by section 49:

49 Applicable rules, procedure, and standard of proof The proceedings under sections 45 and 46 are civil proceedings to which the usual rules of the court, rules of evidence, and procedure for civil proceedings apply (including the standard of proof).

In my view, that's bad, for obvious reasons. Less obvious fish-hooks include things like different (vis reduced) entitlement to legal aid for civil proceedings.

The Bill of Rights vet touched on the problem of criminal penalties in drag but summarily concluded that any breaches of rights, including the minimum standards of criminal procedure, were justified. I'm not so convinced.

This approach is a dangerous precedent. Perhaps something worthy of Law Commission consideration.