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Read the new UK Anti-Spam laws that
took affect on the 11th Dec. 2003 and how it will affect you. Many
sources such as The Register say this will make matters far worse! |
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3 February 2004
UK Backs Global Ant-Spam Move
'Secure Your Server', a global anti-spam initiative to help combat
junk e-mails worldwide is being backed by Communications Minister
Stephen Timms. The move will see the US Federal Trade Commission
advising Internet server companies around the world on how to secure
their servers to prevent them automatically forwarding spam.
'Secure Your Server' is led by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC),
with the support of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and the Office of Fair
Trading (OFT).
Communications Minister Stephen Timms said: "Spam is an
international problem and we can't eliminate it on our own, it
demands international co-operation. Secure your Server is an
excellent example of international partnership tackling the global
nuisance of spam, and the UK played a key role in helping deliver
this initiative."
The problem for servers lies in so called 'open relays' which were
instrumental in the growth of the Internet in the early days, but
they have increasingly been abused by spammers who use them to
disguise the origin of their messages. Also, a significant amount of
spam is currently generated through the use of so- called 'Open
Proxies' - web-linked machines that can similarly be abused to allow
unauthorised Internet users to connect to other hosts on the
Internet and so proliferate junk the spread of junk e-mail.
The UK is among twenty six nations worldwide who have signed up to
this initiative including Korea, Japan, Brazil, Argentina and
Taiwan.
Acting on behalf of all participating governments and agencies, the
Federal Trade Commission will send out advisory letters to server
owners addressing this issue. This letter will not suggest that the
recipient is violating any laws; rather it will highlight the
problems caused by insecure servers and suggest ways to secure them
in order to reduce spam. |
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11th December 2003 - Brightmail, the
leading anti-spam software company, has welcomed the introduction of
UK anti-spam laws from today - 11th December 2003 - as part of a
rounded strategy of law enforcement, international cooperation,
education and technological measures to effectively tackle the spam
problem.
Enrique Salem, CEO and president, Brightmail said: Making spam a crime
is a critical tool in fighting this problem and we welcome these laws
going on the statute book in the UK. Whats significant is that this is
happening in so many countries at the same time, progressing the goal
of international co-operation on solving spam which crosses frontiers
so freely.
There is no single silver bullet for solving this problem. But, we
believe that a strong conjunction of enforceable laws, education of
consumers and businesses, and powerful but accurate anti-spam
technologies will ultimately bring spam under control. It is vital
that as we work to stop spam, we dont impede the usability of email or
the Internet. Anti-spam measures must be focused on removing the spam
from the Internet, whilst avoiding the collateral damage of
incorrectly blocking legitimate email.
The introduction of anti-spam laws is part of the UK Governments
implementation of the European Directive on Privacy and Electronic
Communications. This includes new laws to prosecute spammers and
allows Internet users to opt-in to receive commercial email. Other
European Union member states are implementing similar legislation. In
December 2003, federal anti-spam legislation was introduced in the
United States and Australia.
The proof of the effectiveness of these laws will lie in how
aggressively they are enforced and how well countries cooperate to
shut down cross-border spam traffic. The company believes that a
combination of strong legal, education and technology measures in
conjunction with governmental and industry cooperation on an
international scale, will be key to controlling spam as a serious
threat to businesses and consumers worldwide.
Brightmail, which filters over 77 billion email a month or 15 percent
of the worlds Internet email, is currently blocking over two billion
spam a day on behalf of its enterprise and internet service provider
customers. The high accuracy of its anti-spam systems is that such
that less than one- in- one million spam is incorrectly identified as
spam.
Brightmail currently classifies 56 percent of email as spam with 31
percent of UK spam categorised as product related, 18 percent adult or
pornographic and 13 percent are scams. This latter category has grown
from four percent of spam in June 2003 as spammers have begun to use
increasingly more sophisticated forms of email spam to trick consumers
to reveal their personal financial details.
About Brightmail
Brightmail, the anti-spam market leader, delivers anti-spam technology
that makes messaging environments secure and manageable. PC Magazine's
EDITORS CHOICE for best enterprise anti-spam software, Brightmail
Anti-Spam protects the email networks of businesses, government
agencies, and service providers, blocking unsolicited bulk email, or
"spam", while assuring that legitimate mail is reliably delivered.
Brightmail protects over 1,500 of the world's leading enterprises,
including Avaya, eBay, Bechtel, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cisco, Cypress
Semiconductors, Deutsche Bank, Eastman, John Hancock, Lucent
Technologies, Microsoft, Motorola, SAS and Terra Lycos. Brightmail
also provides spam protection for the leading Internet service
providers, including AT&T WorldNet, EarthLink, MSN, TelstraClear, and
Verizon Online. Brightmail now protects more than 300 million service
provider customers, and 5 million enterprise email users worldwide.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Brightmail is a private,
profitable company backed by world-class investors and partners. For
more information, visit www.brightmail.com.
By Sophie Heximer |
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