1. 2 nd International Summer School Risks and Challenges of the Network Society Karlstad University and HumanIT Theme: Service Provider Responsibility for Unsolicited Commercial Communication (Spam) by Mr. Evangelos Moustakas and Dr Penny Duquenoy Middlesex University School of Computing Science London, UK.

2. Structure Topic - Aims and objectives Using email: Advantages /Disadvantages Problems caused by Spam Spam Stakeholders Technical Approaches to Blocking Summary and Conclusions Questions - Discussion

3. –Benefits-Advantages >Share data more easily and efficiently >Efficient method of soliciting customers and selling products. >millions of families and home users. –Disadvantages >Unsolicited Commercial email ‘Spam’, >Impinges on the privacy of individual Internet users >Time Consuming reading and deleting the messages where users pay time-based connection fees. >Spam is a violation of Internet etiquette.

4. Users spend €10 billion/year in connection costs just to receive "junk" e-mails (Research undertaken for the EC)

5. Problems caused by Spam Customers: Spend on-line time downloading & reading spam ISPs:Cost of providing the infrastructure Frustrates their customers Support overheads - complaints from customers Several systems have collapsed Enterprises: Lost productivity E-Commerce: Threat to consumer confidence in e-commerce Computer viruses arrive via spam ‘I love you’ virus

6. Stakeholders Internet Service Providers (ISPs) Government – Legislation Customers – Individuals Corporations – Enterprises Marketing Associations Spammers

7. ISPs E-Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 Cases where ISPs do accept liability: > Contractual liability > Unauthorised form of messaging > Liability after notice > Liability deriving from Article 7 Data Protection Act > Non-Effective ISP Anti-Spam Techniques that raise liability.

8. Government - Legislation European Union, EU Directive 2002/58 Effectiveness of the Directive > Most spam originates from outside the EU. > Awareness of the larger companies >Reduction of market competition >Reduction in consumer choice. >Reduction of the impetus for business to develop effective software solutions >The Directive does not prescribe how to meet the requirements Canadian Code of Practice for Consumer Protection in E-Commerce 2003 USA Act of 2000 for UCE Mail

9. Customers – Individuals > Should be aware that ISPs offer a choice of services > Customers are the ones that will form the ISP’s services. > This will force ISPs to develop anti-spamming software applications > Caution when choosing browsers and other navigation tools > Caution when completing a transaction > Newsgroups - open discussion areas are frequently used to collect emails

10. Corporations – Enterprises > Double role > Development of an e-Policy Guidelines about subscribing to email newsletters and web-sites Specify how employees handle unsolicited email Should detail how employees can use email for personal use. > Employees must be properly educated.

11. Marketing Associations Control their members’ behaviour online. Ineffective - spammers are not members of the organisation Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) Consumers must be given the opportunity of "opting-out" of any further communication A marketer who fails to live up to the CMA code is expelled from the Association. Direct Marketing Association (DMA) Has launched an E-mail Preference Service with a special Web site (www.e-MPS.org)

12. Current Technical Approaches to Blocking Real-Time Blocking Lists MAPS Realtime Blackhole List (RBL)Lists of known spammers Best solution for ‘Dark spam’ e.g. known pornographic spammers BUT Not to ban the entire domain usernames@hotmail.com The originating address of a message can be spoofed

13. Current Technical Approaches to Blocking Content Filtering Technologies >Who can decide what words are offensive? Elron and Oxford English Dictionary (OED) >The problem of “false/positive” hits >Whether e-mail confidential information is read from unauthorised parties during the filtering process >“Bouncing back” suspect emails >“Honeypot” approach

14. Summary and Conclusions Problems created by spam Legislative measures currently in operation - Weaknesses. The effectiveness of the EU Directive is small Technical measures (software applications) Cases where ISPs incorrectly blocked legitimate personal communication Co-operative approach is needed, utilised by Internet Service Providers as the primary gatekeepers between senders and recipients.

15. Thank you :) Evangelos Moustakas (B.A., MSc, MPhil) PhD Researcher Middlesex University http://www.academy.gr/vmoustakas E-mail: e.moustakas@mdx.ac.uk