New laws planned in the US will legalise spam and set a precedent for similar laws around the world which will make the problem much worse, warns an anti-spam campaigner.

Speaking at the All Party Internet Group Spam Summit, Steve Linford, director and founder of Spamhaus, warned delegates that spam would actually proliferate under proposed US legislation.

Many professional operations send about 50 million bulk emails every day. Five bills are currently going through the US to tackle the problem, but Linford warned that if adopted they will make spamming legal.

"All the spammers support the current bills going through the US Senate because they will help spam," he said.

"They all want the government to pass an opt-out law to force consumers to opt out of receiving spam. They will legalise spam. The worst thing you can do is legalise it."

Some 200 operations send 90 per cent of all spam, and around 100 have set up operations in Bejing, China, where they pay internet service providers rock bottom prices to distribute email.

Linford explained that China is now watching US and EU legislation and is likely to adopt one of the proposed legislative models.

The European Union's Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive, which comes into force on 31 October, will make it illegal to send unsolicited email to an individual.

But Linford fears that China will follow the US, opening the way for even more spam to be cheaply sent around the world.

"That will be a total disaster," he insisted. "If the US does bring in an opt-out law then spam will go through the roof."

Linford believes that the sending of all unsolicited bulk mail should be banned, and that other forms, such as pornography, should then be tackled as a spam sub-set.

"We need to drive the 200 [professional operations] underground and then we can use technology to mop them up," he said.

Proposed European legislation looks stronger because it uses an opt-in model, where individuals have to specifically indicate that are happy to receive unsolicited email.

Stephen Timms, minister for energy, e-commerce and postal services, said: "Does this mean that we will get rid of spam by the end of the year? Realistically, no.

"The new legislation has a very important part to play, but this is not a problem that will be solved by regulation alone."

But without a move to have confirmed opt-in, consumers will still be faced with someone opting-in on their behalf.