'Together we can defeat spam in two years'

'Together we can defeat spam in two years'
By John Leyden
Published Wednesday 7th July 2004 17:13 GMT
Delegates at an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) spam conference this week have called for standardised, stronger worldwide anti-spam legislation. They aim control the 'modern day epidemic' of spam within two years.

Regulators from 60 countries along with industry representatives called for standardised legislation around the world to make it easier to prosecute spammers. Particular emphasis was placed on measures to curtail the flood of unsolicited pornographic email.

"(We have) an epidemic on our hands that we need to learn how to control," said Robert Horton, Internet strategy expert with the United Nations' International Telecommunications Union (ITU), AP reports. Horton confidently stated that the spam epidemic can be "defeated in short order" given "full international co-operation among governments and software companies".

Delegates will look at examples of legislation that can be used to combat the deluge of spam clogging up worldwide email systems. The initiative follows last week's announcement that the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate internationally in the fight against spam.

"This is great news, but legislation cannot solve the problem on its own," said Carole Theriault, security consultant at IT security firm Sophos. "Spam is mushrooming to incomprehensible levels. International legislation will help, but only in conjunction with sophisticated anti-spam software and education will the situation be rectified."

[maynardsdick]

legislation won't stop spam.

spam, for the most part, is sent by computer like yours and mine.

people download trojans and then these trojans send out the spam from their computers.

there is no real way to stop spam...unless everyone gets smart about how vulnerable their computer is

There is a way to stop spam. Entrapment.

Spam gets sent because they make money from people answering it.

Make it a crime to purchase anything from a spammer. Then, cops could send fake spam, and wait for people to bite, then arrest and prosecute them. It would dry up the market for spam, and therefore the spammers.

I don't usually get spammed on my comp, but I do get called by telemarketers way too much, if they decide to outlaw spam then they better outlaw phone soliciting also.