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The OECD workshop was opened by EU Commissioner Erkki Liikanen, who is responsible for information society matters. He outlined the Commission's commitment to fighting spam, particularly through better cooperation on international enforcement initiatives.
USCIB members made significant contributions to a joint ICC-BIAC discussion paper
on spam. The paper emphasizes the difference between harmful or fraudulent e-mail – the classic definition of spam – and unsolicited commercial electronic communications from reputable businesses. It calls cooperation between governments, business and civil society essential, proposing a four-pronged approach of education and awareness, technological approaches, business self-regulation and enforcement of legislative initiatives.
Business representatives who spoke at the OECD workshop included Christopher Kuner (Hunton & Williams), Joseph Alhadeff (Oracle), Kaz Maekawa
(Fujitsu), Beatrice Delmas Linel
(Microsoft), Hubert van Breemen
(VNO), Jeremy Beale (Confederation of British Industry), Fran Maier
(TRUSTe), Charles Prescott (Direct Marketing Association) and Alastair Tempest (Federation of European Direct Marketing Associations).
Several themes were evident throughout the workshop:
· There is no single solution to spam – multi-pronged, multi-stakeholder approaches are essential.
· Education and awareness, technological approaches and enforcement of legislation were the three eans of fighting spam put forward most frequently by participants.
· An effective way to locate spammers is by following the money trail.
· Spamming also needs to be made less financially lucrative so that it becomes an unattractive endeavor.
· Spamming can be simply the means to carry out fraud, and more sophisticated frauds may increase in the near future – for example 'phishing' where e-mails purport to be from reputable companies such as banks and request individuals' bank details.
· The U.S.Federal Trade Commission has had some success pursuing enforcement actions against spammers, including one case involving cooperation of the Dutch government.
· A national or international single point of contact for reporting spam may help.
· Better enforcement of existing laws and international cooperation is needed.
ICC produced a Global Spam-Fighting Resource, a worldwide inventory to help Internet users reduce their exposure to unwanted e-mail.
The resource is an evolving project that contains practical information on how to opt out of unsolicited commercial e-mail and spam in over 30 countries. It lists data protection authorities, direct marketing associations or other public and private organizations where e-mail users can report spammers and lodge complaints about privacy infringements. The resource was well received at the workshop as it underlined business' commitment to concrete measures to fight spam.
The OECD will produce a report and work program of actions following the workshop. ICC will cooperate closely with BIAC to ensure business input into the program and subsequent work items.
ICC and BIAC will continue to work closely together to ensure that future work in this area is coordinated and maximizes the interests of the global business community.
Staff contact: Heather Shaw
OECD website
BIAC website
ICC website
More on USCIB’s E-Commerce Committee
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