The UK, US and Australia are combining forces to combat spam. They have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote joint enforcement and investigation of spammers across the three countries.

Stephen Timms, the UK communications minister, today called on other countries to join the trio in their anti-spam crusade. He said the MoU is "not going to solve spam overnight but it is going to help. It reinforces our determination to tackle spam with a combination of government and industry initiatives, technical solutions, and user awareness.

Timothy Muris, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said: "Illegal spam does not respect national boundaries. This agreement is an important next step to help law enforcers on three continents leverage resources to combat illegal spam."

Daryl Williams, Australia's minister for communications, information technology and the Arts, said the anti-spam MoU gives the welcome message that the United States and United Kingdom, like Australia, regard spam as a serious problem, and want to take practical action to reduce that problem."

The UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is hosting a summit in London on October 11 for consumer protection regulators from 30-ish countries to discuss anti-spam enforcement and to learn how to find and catch spammers. ®

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