The International Spam Enforcement workshop opened this week in London, hosted by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the US Federal Trade Commission. The two organizations joined forces to host the conference, bringing together consumer protection, data protection and telecommunications agencies from over 20 countries to promote cross-border cooperation on spam and spam-related problems, such as online fraud and computer viruses.

John Vickers, chairman of the OFT, opened the workshop with a brief yet entertaining etymology of the word “spam” and its shared origin in both American and British culture. Vickers noted the Minnesota-based food company whose canned spiced ham was named “spam” in the 1930’s and the British contribution coming from the “monosyllabic but incessantly repetitious song in Monty Python” and then related that shortage of time prevented him from performing the song live for attendees.

In his opening remarks, Vickers said that much of spam is a scam and cited it as “threatening the enormous potential for good that e-commerce and the Web have opened up. Spam respects no frontiers, so the first and obvious requirement is effective international collaboration to combat it.” In addition he urged global cooperation on network security, law enforcement and heightened consumer awareness to help shield Internet users from spam. 

The OFT said it is estimated that over 80% of spam received by UK internet users originates from overseas, making cross-border collaboration on enforcement essential.

The conference includes sessions on comparing the enforcement powers of different government agencies and departments; effective collection of evidence; cooperation with the private sector on initiatives to combat spam; and devising a practical framework for international law enforcement through bilateral and multilateral agreements between enforcement agencies.