21/09/2004 - The OECD has launched an Anti-Spam “Toolkit” as the first step in a broader initiative to help policy makers, regulators and industry restore trust in the Internet and e-mail.

Tom Dale, Chair of the OECD Task Force on Spam, said: “While technology is making spamming more difficult, spam is becoming increasingly malicious and damaging to the online environment.  Spam is now clearly used for significant criminal activity and we aim to assist the development of cross-border enforcement against spammers.  The “toolkit” strategy is a fast-track approach to achieve early results.”

The aims and components of the Toolkit were outlined at the second OECD Workshop on Spam in Busan, Korea, on 8-9 September 2004. The next steps will be to develop the toolkit to include:

• a spam regulation handbook – a reference guide to the different existing approaches to spam regulation to help identify loopholes and ways of improving international enforcement and cooperation;
• an examination of the self-regulatory arrangements which exist at industry, national or international levels which can be applied against spam;
  an analysis of existing and emerging technical measures against spam, including authentication technology;
• a central resource of information to educate and raise awareness of the threat of spam and how to fight it. This will include tips for users on how to protect themselves from spam and how to avoid “phishing”, when spammers use fake emails to encourage Internet users to divulge confidential financial data; and
• an overview of existing partnerships against spam, examples of good practice and lessons that can be learnt for the development of cooperative partnerships against spam.

The OECD Spam Task Force, which includes participants from all 30 OECD countries, the European Commission, the Business and Advisory Committee to the OECD and civil society, will lead the development of the toolkit. We welcome contributions from all stakeholders in business and industry, policy makers, governments and civil society, including non-member countries.

Public contributions to the OECD anti-spam Toolkit may be sent to spam.project@oecd.org. More information about the OECD’s work on spam can be found at http://www.oecd.org/sti/spam.  Presentations from the second OECD Spam Workshop can also be found at this site.

For further information, journalists are invited to contact Dimitri Ypsilanti at the Information, Computer and Communications Policy Division (tel: + (33) 1 45 24 94 42) or Spencer Wilson, OECD’s Media Relations Division (tel: + 33 1 45 24 81 18).