ISPs must spearhead attack on spam

ISPs have been warned that they should wage a war on spam, or risk losing their customers to rivals who do seize the initiative to act against unsolicited mail.

More than half the internet users interviewed for a recent survey said they believe the responsibility for filtering out spam rests with the ISP.

The independent survey, commissioned by anti-spam firm Brightmail, also revealed that 57 per cent of users have noticed a rise in spam email over the past year, while 63 per cent of business users say they receive spam on a daily basis.

BTopenworld has become the latest UK ISP to heed the warnings and has today announced the signing of a contract with Brightmail to provide spam filtering to all its customers.

Enrique Salem, CEO and president of Brightmail, told silicon.com the issue is simple. "If ISPs don't provide spam filtering their customers will leave," he said.