Spam ain't spam anymore

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 19 December 2007 06:36

Opinion and Analysis

What the OECD had done was to launch an Anti-Spam Toolkit, available online at www.oecd-antispam.org, that "gives policymakers a comprehensive package of concrete regulatory approaches, technical solutions, and industry initiatives to fight spam". That's a good start but goes nowhere near far enough.

There is now a global initiative against spam at Government level, the StopSpamAlliance , a joint international effort initiated by APEC, the EU's CNSA, ITU, the London Action Plan, OECD and the Seoul-Melbourne Anti-Spam group (formed by Australia's ACMA and its Korean Counterpart and one of the first inter-government anti-spam initiative). Five associate partners joined in 2007; the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT), the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG), the Internet Society (ISOC), the Asia Pacific Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (APCAUCE), and CAUCE North America.

The objective of the StopSpamAlliance is "to help co-ordinate international action against spam and related threats more effectively by gathering information and resources improving information sharing among participating entities." The StopSpamAlliance website provides links to initiatives in anti-spam legislation and enforcement activities, consumer and business education, best practices, and international cooperation.

This is another good initiative but nowhere near enough. Judging by its website the alliance operates on a shoe-string budget. And appears to have no identifiable face, and no contact point.

I have not been able to find any assessment of the global economic impact of spam that factors in the cost of carrying it, of guarding against it and of the damage caused by its increasingly malicious intent. All the evidence, however, would suggest that this is now very significant and surely these latest comments form IronPort indicate that the time is long over due for much greater commitment by governments to stamping out spam at source.

There is a quote on the cover of the IronPort report, from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. "Spam…continues to degrade the integrity of email. Some 55 percent of email users say they have lost trust in email because of spam."

Unless something is done and done soon that figure is likely to be 80 or 90 percent.