On the Front Lines in the War on Spam

Industry groups around the country are starting to employ new technical efforts to stem the dark tide of spam. These efforts range from placing new kinds of electronic signatures on outgoing e-mail to identifying and controlling the routes taken by unwanted messages.

Currently, one approach is gaining a great deal of attention in the media. Spearheaded by Internet security vendor Blue Security, the new approach is an antispam offensive that enlists the joint aid of thousands of e-mail recipients to launch coordinated, real-time "attacks" that disrupt the very Web sites that spammers use to sell their wares.