StopSpam Alliance aims to bring regional anti-spam efforts together

Tim Wilson, Editor in Chief, Dark Reading, Contributor

November 3, 2006

2 Min Read

A user in Cleveland sits and deletes multiple bogus emails from Nigeria. A U.K. law enforcement team wants to catch a spammer, but he's hiding in Russia. With so many cross-border spam attacks, are regional anti-spam efforts ever going to be enough?

Six anti-spam groups earlier this week conceded that they need some help, joining forces to hold the first meeting of the StopSpamAlliance during the United Nations Internet Governance Forum in Athens, Greece.

The alliance meeting was the first step in linking the efforts of several major regional anti-spam initiatives: the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the EU Contact Network for Spam Enforcement Authorities (CNSA), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the London Action Plan for Spam Enforcement (LAP), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the Seoul-Melbourne MOU.

"We know there’s no simple single solution to fight spam," said Claudia Sarrocco of the OECD. "International organizations could and should work together more effectively against spammers, and this initiative will help them do that."

Interestingly, none of the U.S.-based anti-spam groups has yet joined the alliance. The Anti-Spam Technical Alliance, which was formed in 2003 by Microsoft, Yahoo, and Earthlink, was not one of the group's six charter members.

The StopSpamAlliance has created a Website, but so far it has offered few details on how the groups will work together or what they hope to achieve.

"The Website is an exciting development, providing one entry point for those interested in the global fight against spam," said Jean-Jacques Sahel, of the London Action Plan. "This embodies the principles of working in partnership and bringing the particular skills and competences of a wide range of public and private stakeholders together."

Tim Wilson, Site Editor, Dark Reading

About the Author(s)

Tim Wilson, Editor in Chief, Dark Reading

Contributor

Tim Wilson is Editor in Chief and co-founder of Dark Reading.com, UBM Tech's online community for information security professionals. He is responsible for managing the site, assigning and editing content, and writing breaking news stories. Wilson has been recognized as one of the top cyber security journalists in the US in voting among his peers, conducted by the SANS Institute. In 2011 he was named one of the 50 Most Powerful Voices in Security by SYS-CON Media.

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