A European committee has backed down on plans to outlaw spam in favour of a more lenient approach, a move that is expected to upset anti-spam campaigners.

The European Parliament said yesterday that a civil liberties committee assembled to investigate spam in Europe had decided on the more lenient "opt-in or opt-out" approach rather than the all-out ban that anti-spam advocates had hoped for.

The decision goes against the grain of proposals from European telecom ministers in June, who lobbied for an opt-in only legislation in which recipients are required to give permission before any automatic emails can be sent.

But the somewhat weak stance taken by the Citizens' Rights and Freedoms, Justice and Home Affairs Committee means that these proposals have been canned.

One anti-spam campaigner, the European Internet Service Providers Association, said with disappointment that by taking a weak stance on consumer protection regarding spam, the Euro Parliament could damage its own credibility for dealing with data retention.

This is a separate affair concerned with a European strategy on a cybercrime crackdown by forcing ISPs to hang on to user data for longer.