Firms won't pay extra for spam filters

The problem of spam continues to get worse - but few European companies are willing to pay extra to their Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for protection.

Ian Fogg, senior broadband analyst with Jupiter Research, said that virus writers and spammers are increasingly working together, so services that deal with these problems can be bundled together naturally.

But speaking at the Openwave Messaging Anti-Abuse Conference, Fogg said: "In Europe there seems to be an unwillingness to pay for anti-spam measures. The number of companies willing to pay for antivirus protection is much higher.

"I expect to see many ISPs in Europe extend spam filtering as a free service."

Steve Linford, founder of anti-spam organisation Spamhaus, warned that links between organised crime, spammers and virus writers continue to grow.

"We expect quite an onslaught from Russia this year as there are now some pretty serious criminals involved in spamming," he said.

"Whatever filters are used by ISPs, they are intent on getting around them. They are tenacious and clever and the law can't touch them."

And Linford warned that anti-spam laws recently introduced in the US and Europe have failed to work as a deterrent.

The US Can Spam Act has made matters worse, he said, while the European e-Privacy Directive has splintered, with different member states implementing different penalties.

For example, in the UK the punishment is a £5,000 fine imposed by the Information Commissioner, but in Italy spamming can lead to a €90,000 (£60,000) fine and a prison sentence.

"UK spammers are not worried about the fines from the Information Commissioner. But this also means Italian spammers are coming over to the UK to avoid being prosecuted under Italian law," Linford told vnunet.com.

Philippe Gérard, a spokesman for the European Commssion's Information Society, told delegates that while precise sanctions were decided by member states, the Commission would be monitoring to make sure "real sanctions and investigation tools" were implemented.

See also:

Spammers consider UK a soft touch

'Derisory sanctions' of European e-privacy law has made spam problem worse, warn experts  11 Jun 2004

ISPs losing battle against spam

Anti-spam measures failing to halt deluge of unwanted email  09 Jun 2004

Spam slips though the maintenance gap

Most anti-spam defences remain inadequate, says Clearswift research  19 Apr 2004

New laws will make spam worse

Latest UK and US anti-spam laws are failing to stop junk mail, warn experts  09 Jan 2004

Anti-spam law critics predict failure

EU directive will be crippled by countries failing to comply, warn anti-spam experts  11 Dec 2003

Filters unclog email

Spam devours email and networking resources, and reduces staff productivity. So how should organisations combat it?  02 Dec 2003

Spam laws must go further

A new directive designed to toughen up anti-spam laws in the EU is welcome, but may bring little real benefit  26 Sep 2003

Junk mail

The term 'spam' may have been popularised by a Monty Python sketch but, in the electronic world, junk mail is far from a laughing matter.  06 Jun 2003

If it's Thursday, this must be junk mail

BT Openworld names spammers' busiest day and calls for tougher action from ISPs  07 May 2003

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