Spammers can be beaten in 2 years, regulators say

[SDK]

GENEVA--Millions of users may abandon the Internet and phone messaging systems unless governments and software companies join forces to block the spread of spam, key figures in an antispam drive said on Tuesday.
The global battle against spammers who use the Internet to disseminate pornography, distribute unsolicited sales pitches and engage in the new menace of "phishing" can be won in two years, officials running a three-day U.N. meeting told a news conference.

"If we don't work together," said Robert Shaw, Internet strategy expert with the United Nations' International Telecommunications Union (ITU), "we may see millions of people abandoning the Net entirely, out of frustration and disgust."

The ITU says spam drains national economies around the world of about $25 billion a year and estimates that lost productivity--through time wasted in clearing e-mail boxes--could be four times that amount.

"If we achieve full international cooperation among governments and software companies, this plague, which affects so many of us in our everyday life, will be defeated in short order," said Robert Horton, Australia's top regulator.

He said that software makers and regulators have the means to bring spam under control within two years.

Horton, whose country has developed some of the most advanced legislation to fight the spam clogging private and corporate e-mail boxes around the world, said he hoped the gathering would produce a draft agreement on solutions.

"No one country can tackle this alone," he said. "It is an international threat and we must work together to defeat it."

Officials said the conference would examine legislation that could enable governments to crack down on Internet service providers, or ISPs, that allow spammers to use their systems.

Many of the ISPs are well-known and include companies that are household names, according to the Web site www.spamhaus.org.

International cooperation would also enable regulators to assemble dossiers on companies and individuals engaged in spamming or in "phishing" and provide the basis for criminal prosecutions in the perpetrators' home countries, Shaw said.

"Phishers" send fake e-mails that purport to come from genuine banks or credit card companies and ask recipients to confirm account details or card numbers. These are then used to drain the accounts of recipients who respond to the messages.

Up to 10 per cent of recipients provide the vital information, ITU officials said

Source : http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5258828.html

[AngelicKnight]

"we may see millions of people abandoning the Net entirely, out of frustration and disgust."

Yeah, and crack addicts are going to walk away because drugs are getting too expensive. People are addicted to the Internet, and we've become so reliant on it in our daily lives I doubt that spammers are going to have too much of an affect.

[cacosapo]

i cant see a big effort to stop those guys. Anyway, spammers and virus creator make the industry happy. A lot of guys are rich now due to anti-anything softwares....

[Spyder32]

Heh, nice article. However, many point's have been made and yeah, first off:

"we may see millions of people abandoning the Net entirely, out of frustration and disgust."

That will never happen. Why?

Yeah, and crack addicts are going to walk away because drugs are getting too expensive. People are addicted to the Internet, and we've become so reliant on it in our daily lives I doubt that spammers are going to have too much of an affect.

Excellent point. Also, another comparison that could be made would be American's and fast food. We all love McDonald's and whatnot, despite it not being healthy for us to eat. But we're going to continue to eat it regardless despite the weight problem's and obesity many suffer.

Anyway, spammers and virus creator make the industry happy. A lot of guys are rich now due to anti-anything softwares....

Another excellent point. Without the like, companies that prevent them go outta business. Think of it as "providing job's" and "expanding the industry".

[cross]

Get it through your heads people, Spam will stop when I stop receiving Telemarketing calls. People spam because, guess what, they make money. Not a few bucks, a ton of cash. Its annoying and discusting but its true. Same reason we sit through commercials and get calls from companies trying to get your buisness. I haven't recieved spam in over 6 months now and I do it all WITHOUT any filters. Wake up people, the answer is already here, just search a little, a spam free inbox is waiting for you.

If you want the name of the email service, pm me, otherwise enjoy your spam, it wont be going anywhere, not in 1 year or 10.

[Spyder32]

If you want the name of the email service, pm me, otherwise enjoy your spam, it wont be going anywhere, not in 1 year or 10.

Or don't give out your e-mail address to anyone except family/friends and don't signup for anything with that e-mail address? I do agree with you on this though:

Get it through your heads people, Spam will stop when I stop receiving Telemarketing calls. People spam because, guess what, they make money.

[AngelicKnight]

Exactly. My personal e-mail address remains secretive except to friends and family, and guess what? Minimal spam, rarely any. When I want to signup for something, I often use a hotmail address that I've set up as a spam decoy. Works wonders.

[XTC46]

and GMAIL works well too.

[Spyder32]

Yeh, setting up a hotmail account take's a literal minute and I use those hotmail account's when I signup for something. As for my personal e-mail account, I don't even remember the last time I recieved spam.

[Vorlin]

We all love McDonald's and whatnot, despite it not being healthy for us to eat. But we're going to continue to eat it regardless despite the weight problem's and obesity many suffer.

Except the fact that MCDonald's has now catered to the fat asses of the world by removing their Super Size menu because of the lawsuits they were getting because these fat bitches were buying the meals, getting their supersize fries and drink, and then blaming the supersize menu for them getting fatter!

It's not a SUPER SIZE problem, it's a KNIFE-FORK-AND-SPOON PROBLEM... Help yourself to that treadmill, not another piece of pie!

Now, as a side result, I no longer eat at McDonald's because I can no longer get my Super Size (44oz, not 32) drink without ice and I'm a thin guy. I should sue them because of emotional damages caused by me not being able to get a super size drink, rofl...

God, I hate people sometimes... In Florida, there are more fat asses than you've ever seen anywhere else and it shocks me to no end the lack of care these people show for the environment, their bodies, the people around them....it's utterly disgusting.

On the topic of spam, hehe...it'll never stop. I just switched email addresses and it'll never get told to anyone unless that person's a close friend, family, or I'm swapping DNA with them. Period. Anyone that sends me spam gets that email address (working or not) added to about 20 sites I know that send spam mail. And now, I'm getting real good at message dissemination and header manipulation, hehe...