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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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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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