The Commission adopted, on 15 November 2006, a Communication on fighting spam, spyware and malicious software. In the document, the Commission says that enforcement of existing legislation is the crucial step to be taken to reduce spam.
These claims are supported by the examples of Finland and the Netherlands, both of which countries have brought spam down from around 80% to around 30%, using strict enforcement against spammers. The Commission stressed especially the relatively small investment of just five dedicated employees and €570,000 in new equipment that was needed in OPTA, the Dutch regulatory authority, to significantly reduce spam.
Other countries, and notably the five EU countries which are on the list of the top twelve spam originator countries in the world, have done little, and in some cases even nothing at all, to stop spam.
The Commission considers
- a strong commitment by central government to fight on-line malpractices;
- clear organisational responsibility for enforcement activities, and;
- adequate resources for the enforcement authority
to be critical success factors in combating spam, adding that "actions should in particular address 'professional' spammers, phishers and the spreading of spyware and malware". It says that the cited success factors "are not present in all member states".
The Commission recalled that some actions by spammers, such as the creation of zombies and botnets and setting up fraudulent websites for phishing attacks fall under criminal law. It criticised that "to date, the increasingly entwined criminal and administrative aspects of spam and other threats have not been reflected in a corresponding growth of cooperation procedures in member states that brings together the technical and investigative skills of different agencies".
The Commission called on member states and competent authorities to:
- lay down clear lines of responsibility for national agencies involved in fighting spam - ensure effective coordination between competent authorities;
- involve market players at national level, drawing on their expertise and available information;
- ensure that adequate resources are made available to enforcement efforts - subscribe to international cooperation procedures and act on requests for cross border assistance;
on companies to:
- ensure that the standard of information for the purchase of software applications is in accordance with data protection law;
- contractually prohibit illegal use of software in advertisements, monitor how advertisements reach consumers and follow up on malpractice, and;
on e-mail service providers:
- to apply a filtering policy which ensures compliance with the recommendation and guidance on e-mail filtering.
It committed to
- continue efforts to raise awareness and foster co-operation between stakeholders;
- continue to develop agreements with third countries including the issue of the fight against spam, spyware and malware;
- aim to introduce new legislative proposals at the beginning of 2007 that strengthen the rules in the area of privacy and security in the communications sector and present a policy on cyber crime;
- involve ENISA expertise in security matters, and;
- support research and development on combating spam, spyware and malicious software in its FP7 program.
