All Together Now: ISP Group Releases Spam-Fighting Measures

Leading Internet service providers (ISPs) say that the industry needs to work together and take proactive steps to stop the conflagration of unwanted e-mails.

The companies ' including leading e-mail providers and ISPs Yahoo!, EarthLink, Microsoft, Comcast and America Online (AOL) ' through the Anti-Spam Technical Alliance (ASTA), are calling on other ISPs to adopt a series of actions and policies that they have developed after a year of collaboration to fight spam.

The ASTA proposal, the “Anti-Spam Technical Alliance Technology and Policy Proposal,” focuses two key issues: helping solve the e-mail forgery problem by eliminating domain spoofing through Internet Protocol (IP)-based and signature-based solutions; and best practices to help prevent ISPs and their customers from being sources of spam. According to the proposal: “Implementing the recommendations in this document can help reduce many of the worst types of spam, forgery, and spoofing that occur in e-mail. These technologies will not stop spam entirely, but implementing these recommendations will significantly enhance the Internet community's ability to trace the source of spam and hold senders accountable for their actions. This ability will provide the foundation for building future solutions.”

The recommendation that's getting the most attention is the call for those infected with computer viruses that result in their unknowingly sending tons of spam e-mails to be taken offline until their machines can be cleaned up. Other recommendations include:

• Developing complaint reporting systems;
• Closing all open relays;
• Implementing rate limits on outbound e-mail traffic; and
• Implementing authenticated e-mail submission.

“We believe that thanks to continued innovation and the ongoing cooperation of governments and industry around the world, we are on the right path to turn the tide against spammers ' but further change is needed on an industry-wide basis to thoroughly contain the problem for consumers and businesses worldwide,” said Ryan Hamlin, general manager of the Anti-Spam Technology & Strategy Team at Microsoft in a statement. “Our aim with this proposal is to help lay out a clear framework for the industry as we continue to work together to end the spam business and put our customers back in control of their inboxes once again.”

“By collaborating on new ways to better identify the origin of messages, we can help lift the veil of anonymity on spammers and restore the integrity of e-mail, Linda Beck, executive vice president of Operations at EarthLink said in her statement. “We encourage continued testing and public discussion in order to move toward industry-standard technical solutions.”

Some estimates place the cost of spam to ISPs at roughly $500 million each year in wasted bandwidth, legal bills and additional customer-service costs; and that spam now accounts for up to 83% of all e-mail traffic.

Each of the ASTA companies has the full proposal available on their Web sites. Yahoo!'s can be found at http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/pdf/asta_soi.pdf.

' Steve Salkin

Leading Internet service providers (ISPs) say that the industry needs to work together and take proactive steps to stop the conflagration of unwanted e-mails.

The companies ' including leading e-mail providers and ISPs Yahoo!, EarthLink, Microsoft, Comcast and America Online (AOL) ' through the Anti-Spam Technical Alliance (ASTA), are calling on other ISPs to adopt a series of actions and policies that they have developed after a year of collaboration to fight spam.

The ASTA proposal, the “Anti-Spam Technical Alliance Technology and Policy Proposal,” focuses two key issues: helping solve the e-mail forgery problem by eliminating domain spoofing through Internet Protocol (IP)-based and signature-based solutions; and best practices to help prevent ISPs and their customers from being sources of spam. According to the proposal: “Implementing the recommendations in this document can help reduce many of the worst types of spam, forgery, and spoofing that occur in e-mail. These technologies will not stop spam entirely, but implementing these recommendations will significantly enhance the Internet community's ability to trace the source of spam and hold senders accountable for their actions. This ability will provide the foundation for building future solutions.”

The recommendation that's getting the most attention is the call for those infected with computer viruses that result in their unknowingly sending tons of spam e-mails to be taken offline until their machines can be cleaned up. Other recommendations include:

• Developing complaint reporting systems;
• Closing all open relays;
• Implementing rate limits on outbound e-mail traffic; and
• Implementing authenticated e-mail submission.

“We believe that thanks to continued innovation and the ongoing cooperation of governments and industry around the world, we are on the right path to turn the tide against spammers ' but further change is needed on an industry-wide basis to thoroughly contain the problem for consumers and businesses worldwide,” said Ryan Hamlin, general manager of the Anti-Spam Technology & Strategy Team at Microsoft in a statement. “Our aim with this proposal is to help lay out a clear framework for the industry as we continue to work together to end the spam business and put our customers back in control of their inboxes once again.”

“By collaborating on new ways to better identify the origin of messages, we can help lift the veil of anonymity on spammers and restore the integrity of e-mail, Linda Beck, executive vice president of Operations at EarthLink said in her statement. “We encourage continued testing and public discussion in order to move toward industry-standard technical solutions.”

Some estimates place the cost of spam to ISPs at roughly $500 million each year in wasted bandwidth, legal bills and additional customer-service costs; and that spam now accounts for up to 83% of all e-mail traffic.

Each of the ASTA companies has the full proposal available on their Web sites. Yahoo!'s can be found at http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/pdf/asta_soi.pdf.

' Steve Salkin