Spam Summit Kicks Off


Officials from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the British Office of
Fair Trading (OFT) hosted the first international meeting of spam
enforcement agencies today in London.


The conference, which brought together agencies from more than 20 countries,
focused on consumer protection, data protection and telecommunications
agencies to promote cross-border cooperation on spam and spam-related
problems, such as online fraud and computer viruses.


“This gathering is unique not only because it is the first international
meeting of spam enforcers, but also because our participants represent
diverse organizations,” FTC Chairman Deborah Majoras said in her prepared
opening remarks.


Majoras added that all the countries attending the conference were united in
their efforts to “stop deceptive and fraudulent spam from flooding our
e-mail boxes, threatening our data security, and undermining e-mail’s
effectiveness as a tool for commerce and communication.”


John Vickers, chairman of the OFT, said global cooperation on network
security, law enforcement and heightened consumer awareness is needed to
help shield Internet users from spam. He added that more than
80 percent of spam received by United Kingdom Internet users originates
from overseas, making cross-border collaboration on enforcement essential.


“International collaboration by enforcement agencies, the efforts of the
computer and communications industries, and smart consumers at home — who
take steps to protect themselves — are all needed to combat the Internet
scammers,” Vickers said in his prepared reports.


The conference included sessions on comparing the enforcement powers of
different government agencies, effective collection of evidence and
cooperation with the private sector on anti-spam initiatives. Sessions were
also held for devising a practical framework for international law
enforcement through bilateral and multilateral agreements among
enforcement agencies.


“The task requires us to transcend traditional organizational boundaries.
Spam respects no frontiers, so the first and obvious requirement is
effective international collaboration to combat it,” Vickers said.


Majoras pointed to the actions last week by the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, which agreed to a $25,000 settlement from a Florida-based
company accused of sending unsolicited bulk e-mail to Massachusetts’
consumers. DC Enterprises and William C. Carson of Weston, Fla., the main
principal of the company, was accused of violating both state laws and the
new national CAN SPAM Act.


Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly said DC and Carson also violated
state and national anti-spam laws by failing to provide an opt-out
provision, identifying the e-mail as advertisements and using a
non-functioning sender address. According to the settlement, the spam sent
by DC Enterprises promoted low-interest loans.


“Internet marketers should note that Massachusetts takes seriously federal
and state laws meant to protect against unwanted and misleading e-mails,”
Reilly said in a statement. “These messages are the type of unwanted and
annoying solicitations that have become the scourge of Internet users and
threaten the credibility of companies using e-mail for legitimate purposes.”

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