Either way. you're dealing with a problem, and the best solution is content security. Use policy guidelines (see back issues of DominoPower and get the assistance of expert legal counsel) to provide a strong email usage policy for your company; company-wide education about the policy; and content security software for enforcement and threat prevention are the best bets.

How to join the anti-spam crusade
If you want to enlist in the anti-spam crusade, there is a plethora of sites and newsgroups which speak to spam-related issues. After reviewing a number of them, we've included four that are most relevant to mail administrators and developers. Each of these sites also provides links to additional sites and newsgroups specializing in related issues.

CAUCE
CAUCE, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email, can be found at http://www.cauce.org/. The site is well-organized. It focuses less on the technical aspects of the problem and more on news and policy. Its "Bill Analysis" page (http://www.cauce.org/why.html.) offers a readable analysis of legislative trends.

CAUCE appears to be the only spam site to fully acknowledge the virtues of the original SPAM, a food of questionable flavor, which derives its name from "spiced ham". "SPAM is a fine product by the Hormel company and we're sorry that their name for canned meat is becoming synonymous with a horrible business practice," they write.

Internet Mail Consortium (IMC)
Internet Mail Consortium (IMC), describes itself as, "the only international organization focused on cooperatively managing and promoting the rapidly-expanding world of electronic mail on the Internet." IMC members include IBM, Sun Microsystems, Netscape, Microsoft and a long list of other software, hardware and online service vendors. You can find IMC at http://www.imc.org.

The IMC membership is fiercely opposed to spam. IMC has recently released a report on the issue entitled Unsolicited Bulk Email: Mechanisms for Control, and has archived a number of articles and anti-UBE resources, all available through the IMC Spam page: http://www.imc.org/imc-spam/.

The Internet Service Providers' Consortium (ISP)
The Internet Service Providers' Consortium (ISP) states that its goal is to "function as the lead international trade association of ISPs." Originally developed to provide a legislative voice for ISP professionals, the consortium now offers services that range from health insurance to product discounts. They can be reached at http://www.isp.org/.