Question: SPAM (unsolicited commercial email) is largely recognized as undesirable. Do you think ICANN can/should do anything against SPAM. Specifically what policy do you promote ?

Nominee Replies

Andy Mueller-Maguhn - posted on 2000-10-02 04:26:58 As a policy, free flow of information through the net has priority over abuse. Measures against abuse such as filtering can take place in the clients. So in generally, it is not an ICANN issue. What ICANN can do is to support more Obligingness to the net through a little more attention to the handling of names and numbers by the registries to make spam-senders liable. Maria Cattaui - posted on 2000-09-29 12:22:01 Content and codes for content are things that ICANN should discuss within other fora, but not by itself. These discussions merit more than the technical expertise that ICANN can provide, therefore they should be subject to a broader degree of participation. Jeanette Hofmann - posted on 2000-09-28 15:46:46 It is not ICANN's job to take care of the spam problem. Remember, the Net's architecture is decentral. The flow of information cannot be controlled. Neither can the annyoing surge of spam. Olivier Muron - posted on 2000-09-28 07:34:44 It is beyond the scope of ICANN. Concerning its own operation it should be very careful to avoid spam i.e. in the use of the mailing lists. Alf Hansen - posted on 2000-09-28 01:17:41 SPAM in general is *content* not *addressing*, and therefore outside the scope of ICANN. ICANN should deal with SPAM internally, example SPAM on ICANN's own distribution lists. I like the SPAM policy for the DNSO GA list, where a list manager has the authority to remove from the list (for a certain period) someone who refuses to behave according to the agreed rules. The infrastructure for the ICANN Q&A Forum is also established in a way that will limit SPAM in a natural way, because registered members only are allowed to speak.