On Thursday, the French government launched “Signal Spam”, an anti-spam platform created in association with public entities and private companies, such as Microsoft. Internet users will be able to report spam messages by mailing them to this platform which will act as a centralised monitor of spamming activities. The platform will generate a blacklist and help initiate prosecutions against spammers.

“Signal Spam” acts as a spam repository or notification platform. There are two ways to report spam. First, the internet user can copy and paste the spam in an online form on the website of "Signal Spam". Second, any (French-speaking) internet user can register with the platform and install a plug-in compatible with the following mail clients: Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007 (the user will need to install “Microsoft Visual Studio 2005” and “Redistributable Primary Interop Assemblies”) and Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0. Once installed, the plug-in allows users to notify spam to the platform by using the dedicated icon in their mail client. “Signal Spam” will then analyse the message, and if its spam status is confirmed, will then blacklist the e-mail and IP address of the sender. According to Rasle , the tool was developed by John Graham-Cunning , an internationally recognised expert who has created the open source POPFile email filtering program.

“Signal Spam” will also be able to contact users and transmit information to authorities such the French data protection authority, the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés or CNIL, and the Police in order to initiate prosecutions. Data will also be shared with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to help them in their anti-spam efforts.

According to Francis Bouvier (from "Signal Spam" in 01net), the platform will be able to receive up to 1 million messages a day and should, in the coming months, become available to other mail clients, notably web mail clients such as Hotmail, Yahoo mail or Google mail.

To further help users in defeating spam, “Signal Spam” offers a series of recommendations (some in English) on how to fight spam whether you are an internet user , a direct marketing or distance selling agent, a sender of numerous messages , an on-line services or software publisher, or an ISP. It also offers a directory of paying and free anti-spam tools (link in English).

The launch of “Signal Spam” was lead by the government’s Media development department, La direction du développement des médias or DDM (pages available in English). The DDM finances 50% of its €200.000 budget (there are conflicting reports as to whether this figure is funding for one or two years). The other half is financed by some of the institutions involved in the project. “Signal Spam” is indeed a collaborative effort between the following private and public institutions:

- Associations representing representing internet professional such as the Business Software Alliance , trade associations representing ISPs or online and distance selling marketers, the APRIL (a free software association, see story in French-law)

- La Poste (the French postal service) and Microsoft

- Public entities such as the Police, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Economy, the CNIL….

- Le Forum des droits sur Internet, the Internet Rights Forum

Sources

Karine Solovieff, La France se dote d'un piège à spam national. 01net., 10 mai 2007.

Frédéric Couchet, Le retour de la « boite à spam ». Couchet.org, 10 mai 2007.

Marc Rees, Ouverture de Signal spam, le centre de dénonciation du spam. PcInpact.com, 11 mai 2007.

Olivier Dumons, Le spam enfin déclaré fléau national. Le Monde, 11 mai 2007.

Ouverture d'une plate-forme nationale de lutte contre le spam. ZDNet France, 11 mai 2007.

Louis van Proosdij Duport, La lutte contre le SPAM s’organise à la tête d’état français, 11 mai 2007.

Bruno Rasle, Signal Spam prend enfin le relais de la Boîte à spams. Vulnerabilite.com, 12 Mai 2007.

Yannick A., Signal-spam : traitement simplifié des pourriels. Generation Nouvelles Technologies, 12 mai 2007.

Illustration

From the "Signal Spam" website