Anti-Spam's United Nations

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