EDRI - Spam & spyware

ENDitorial: How antivirus vendors handle state-sponsored malware

bogdan — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 18:34:17 +0000

Last month, an international coalition of civil rights organizations and academic experts asked antivirus software vendors how they handled state-sponsored malware. Some of them already responded and the responses are interesting.

The letter, drafted by Bits of Freedom and signed by organisations such as EDRi, several EDRi-members and security experts such as Bruce Schneier, was sent to various antivirus companies (see below for a complete list). The coalition writes in the letter that these companies have a vital position in providing security and maintaining the trust of internet users engaging in sensitive activities such as electronic banking.

SIF Unconference: Enforcement through "self-"Regulation - who ever thought this was a good idea?

joe — Mon, 27 May 2013 14:36:38 +0000

Last week, European Digital Rights attended the second annual Stockholm Internet Forum which focused on two main themes: Internet Freedom and Security and Internet Freedom and Development. A novelty this year were the Unconference sessions.

The European Commission calls for online privacy protection measures

bogdan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:05:58 +0000

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Die Europäische Kommission fordert online-Schutzmaßnahmen für die P... Macedonian: [Европската комисија апелира за мерки...

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Europe spams more than the US

bogdan — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:23:05 +0000

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

According to security vendor Symantec, a shift has taken place in the weight of the spam networks, the European ones having created more unsolicited e-mail than those in the US lately. Thus, approximately 44 per cent of all spam messages are originated from Europe as compared to 35.1 per cent originated from the US.

In the opinion of one of Symantec's European product marketing managers, Fredrik Sjostedt, the advantage taken by European spammers is due to the large penetration of broadband. "Historically the majority of spammers were U.S.-based, but now we're seeing a lot of Eastern European and Russian spam gangs active (.) We've moved away from traditional, individual spammers, to

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EU Commission wants to push fight against spam

bogdan — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 18:52:41 +0000

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

The European Commission has criticized the member countries, considering that they should better implement the present legal framework and fight against spam, but also take more seriously into consideration the spyware and malicious software issues.

According to the recent figures made public by Sophos, approx. 32% of the world's spam comes from European countries, with France, Spain, Poland and Italy on the top. And this situation occurs when all the EU countries have implemented the 2002 E-privacy Directive that has imposed the opt-in principle on spam. Cooperation in effectively implementing the legal acts is lacking in most of the European Countries.

The Commission presented two European best practices in the fight against

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Discussion during IGF against Internet content control

bogdan — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:38:10 +0000

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

The first global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was organized by United Nations in Athens between 30 October and 2 November 2006.

The forum has shown a strong and large opposition to Internet blocking and filtering, putting under pressure repressive governments such as China. The three sessions devoted to content regulation and control have been dominated by the advocates of anti-censorship and access to knowledge that have criticized the state control of Internet content.

Thus, Amnesty International publicly handed a pledge, called Irrepressible Info. that states: "I believe the Internet should be a force for political freedom, not repression. People have the right to seek and

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OECD focuses on global cooperation in tackling spam

bogdan — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 18:33:16 +0000

A new recommendation on the cross-border co-operation in the enforcement of laws against spam was adopted by the OECD Council session on 13 April 2006, completing the Anti-spam toolkit promoted by OECD since 2004.

The recommendation admits that there is not single solution for tackling the spam issues and the international cooperation is the key in solving the problem. The OECD document urges countries to ensure that their laws enable enforcement authorities to share information with other countries and promote the establishment of a single national contact point to facilitate international cooperation.

According to OECD recommendation there are four important areas that need to be taken into account by the member countries: establishing a domestic framework, improving the ability to cooperate, improving procedures for

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ITU wants codes of conduct for tackling global spam

bogdan — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 20:03:06 +0000

A report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on the spam issue considers that a more effective approach would be to require the establishment of enforceable codes of conduct by Internet service providers, but at the same time promoting anti-spam legislation in all the countries in the world.

ITU has recently published its 7th edition of Trends in Telecommunication Reform that examines the regulatory challenges and opportunities of enabling ICT development. The report provides regulators with tools they can use to promote effective and innovative development and use of ICTs in a competitive environment. The 7th chapter, publicly available on the ITU website, consists in a report prepared by John Palfrey, Executive Director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, regarding the present global

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European countries promise collaboration against spam

sjoera — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 15:29:05 +0000

The European Commission has issued a press release announcing stronger collaboration between anti-spam enforcement authorities in Europe. "Anti-spam enforcement authorities in 13 European countries have agreed to share information and pursue complaints across borders in a pan-European drive to combat spam. They will co-operate in investigating complaints about cross-border spam from anywhere within the EU, so as to make it easier to identify and prosecute spammers anywhere in Europe."

There are still very few public hotlines in Europe where internet users can report spam. These hotlines usually only accept complaints about unsolicited e-mail originating in their own country. In that light, the promise of closer collaboration between European authorities seems a bit futile, if the final recipients of the mail, the Internet users, are not involved.

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Recommended reading: spyware

sjoera — Wed, 26 Jan 2005 17:33:57 +0000

The US researcher Benjamin Edelman, famous for his publications about internet filtering in China and in Saudi Arabia, has turned to spyware, and the results of his research are impressive. In November 2004 he did a simple test, to find out how much junk can get installed on a user's PC visiting a single webpage. "In the course of my testing, my test PC was brought to a virtual stand-still -- with at least 16 distinct programs installed. I was not shown licenses or other installation prompts for any of these programs, and I certainly didn't consent to their installation on my PC. (...) Other symptoms of the infection included unwanted toolbars, new desktop icons (including sexually-explicit icons), replacement desktop wallpaper ("warning! you're in danger! all you do with computer is stored

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