Handling Spam In Government Administration – The Singapore Approach Presented to ICA Annual Conference 2004 Presented by Wu Choy Peng (Ms) 20 October 2004 ICA Annual Conference 2004

Presentation Outline Setting the Context for Spam Singapore’s Anti-Spam Policy Singapore’s Legislative Framework Anti Spam in Singapore Government Administration

Setting the Context Spam has grown rapidly In Singapore, 1 in 3 s received per day is spam 77% of spam comes from overseas Spam causes productivity loss In Singapore, annual loss for end users estimated at S$23million Un-controlled Spam may erode consumer confidence in the use of [Source: IDA 2003 Survey on Unsolicited s Key Findings]

Multi-Pronged Anti-Spam Policy Local Internet users (individuals & businesses) Minimise spam problem through public education Local marketers Encourage proper use of for legitimate online marketing and e-commerce purposes Local ISPs Encourage reduction of spam through technical measures Empowered to fight spam through legal recourse International community Participate as an ally in the fight against cross-border spam

Legislative Framework Employs a mix of existing laws and proposed anti- spam laws Proposed Coverage of Anti-Spam Law Failure to honor opt-out request (“opt-out” regime) Misleading subject title or false header Use of [ADV] label Legal recourse for ISPs Existing laws Fraud or cheating by (Penal Code) Spamming that causes “denial- of-service” (CMA) Spam containing pornography (UPA) Misleading advertisements (CPFTA)

Anti Spam Mechanisms Technical Measures (e.g. Anti-spam solution) Incoming Spam s Review of Government Instruction Manual (IM) on Policy “Government Walks The Talk” Outgoing Spam s Public Sector Education

Technical Measures in Government Administration Deploy anti-spam solution in service-wide Singapore Government Electronic Mail System s identified and tagged with [SPAM] identifier in subject line Client-end filtering to move [SPAM] s to a separate folder to reduce clutter End-user triggered notification to “train” the anti- spam solution

Policy Measures in Government Administration Explicit policy to prohibit various forms of misuse by public officers Guidelines and policy on marketing by government agencies adopt best practice in the private sector

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