Spamhaus Pans U.S. ‘Reluctance’ to Stop Spammers
“Vested interests and political lobbying” are preventing the U.S. from fixing its -- and ultimately the world’s -- spam problem, Spamhaus investigator Richard Cox said Tues. With 80% of spam said to originate in Fla., other countries are looking to a “reluctant” U.S. for solutions, Cox said. But a U.K. govt. official said the U.S. is far from inactive in antispam activities. It’s more a question of “time and resources” than of the U.S. not wanting to address the issue, said Jean Jacques Sahel, Dept. of Trade & Industry (DTI) head of international communications policy. Both spoke at an Asia Europe meeting (ASEM) on e-commerce in London.
Spam was one of the “streams” of discussion at the conference. Speakers urged govts. to get tougher on spam and called for more international cooperation. Cox strongly criticized the U.S. govt., saying that unlike Europe it has refused to outlaw spam. Even when unsolicited messages are illegal under the CAN-SPAM Act, he told us, there are few prosecutions unless the spamming is coming from a large corporation like AOL.
At an ITU powwow on spam last June, the U.S. was the only country seeking to block aid to developing countries trying to overcome their spam problems, Cox said. Moreover, he said, MCI is hosting a product on its website designed to send spam through others’ networks without authorization. Though such behavior is illegal under CAN-SPAM, Cox said, MCI has refused to remove the product and has indicated it has an agreement from Va. not to prosecute. Cox said the European Commission is likely to up take that issue with U.S. officials.
Rather than point the finger at the U.S., the DTI prefers to work with it and other countries to halt spam, Sahel said. The U.K. govt. signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. and Australia last July to prosecute cross-border spammers. Whether unsolicited commercial e-mail should be handled under an opt-in system, as in Europe, or opt-out, as in the U.S., is a cultural difference, he said. Most European countries originally refused to cooperate with the U.S. until it changed to opt- in, but DTI took the view that stopping spam was more important than arguing over the philosophies, Sahel said.
Several global organizations are working to ban spam, including the International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network (ICPEN) and the Organization for Economic Co- operation & Development (OECD). ICPEN has been useful in reaching out to countries outside the OECD, Sahel said, including Asian countries at this week’s conference. Sahel said he hopes the forum raises awareness in Asia of the extent of the problem and possible solutions, and the network continues to provide regular contacts with antispam authorities in countries such as Viet Nam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The FTC and the U.K. Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have launched the London Action Plan, a group of govt. and private-sector organizations in 21 countries which aims to set best practices and run joint antispam enforcement activities. On Tues., the Australian Communication Authority (ACA) endorsed the plan, which encourages govt. and business to increase cooperative efforts. In connection with ASEM, OFT announced a 48-hour worldwide sweep Feb. 21-22 for spam scams.
The data obtained in the sweep will be analyzed by Spamhaus, which exists to help govts. deal with the problem, Cox said. “We're the technicians,” he said, but, as with cars, if vehicle owners don’t listen to their technicians, problems won’t get fixed.