Spam-reporting trial

Australia's latest anti-spam initiative

The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) is teaming up with Internet Service Provider Pacific Internet and software company Spammatters to run a trial of a spam-reporting system.

In the trial, Pacific Internet customers will be able to report spam via a plug-in to Microsoft Outlook or a web interface. The spam will be forwarded from the customer directly to the ACA's forensic database for collection and analysis.

Allan Horsley, acting chairman of ACA said, 'The database system automatically extracts relevant information from the spam that may help the ACA to track down

spammers. This information can be used as evidence in court because the database also saves the spam message with the header and body intact. This enhances its usefulness as legal proof.'

According to Horsley, the database system will reduce the need for manual spam investigations and will be able to process and analyse very large amounts of spam.

If the trial is a success, the ACA is expected to deploy the technology to the broader Australian public in the early part of 2005.

The ACA is responsible for enforcing Australia’s anti-spam laws, which came into operation in April 2004. The laws are considered to be stronger than those of other countries and a reduction in the activity of known Australian spammers has been observed since their introduction.

1 December 2004

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