Recommended Best Practices for Internet Service Providers and Other Network Operators

Task Force on Spam
November 22, 2004

(Please note that an updated version of this document is available.)

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Foreword
Executive Summary
Background
The Task Force on Spam
Scope of Work
Intent
Recommended Best Practices for Internet Service Providers and Other Network Operators
Recommended Best Practices/Rationale
Conclusion/Next Steps

Foreword

The release of the Anti-Spam Action Plan for Canada and the creation of Canada’s Task Force on Spam launched the beginning of a concerted national effort to deal with an increasingly serious problem. In recognition of the importance of technical s olutions to this problem, the Task Force established a Working Group on Technology and Network Management (among other working groups).

The creation of this working group represents the first ever collaborative and concerted effort involving a broad range or organizations, including most of the country’s largest and smallest broadband and dial-up Internet service providers (ISPs), other network operators, large enterprise users, software developers, anti-spam advocates and government. The gathering of these stakeholders and the free and frank discussions they have had is, in itself, a tremendous accomplishment.

The Working Group has developed a series of recommended technical best practices that are intended to help reduce spam in Canada. The Working Group’s mandate represents a continuation of efforts and progress that have been underway in this area for some time in Canada and internationally. The Working Group has, however, advanced this work to establish the first truly national consensus on technical measures to combat spam. In these best practices, Canada has a model to share internationally in the global fight against spam.

While the best practices are voluntary, the Working Group is pleased to note that a number of Canadian ISPs and network operators across the country have already started to implement some or all of these recommendations to protect the best interests of their customers and their networks. Moreover, these ISPs are increasingly requiring that other ISPs and network operators implement the best practices as a condition of accepting e-mail traffic. As such, the best practices will create a significant incentive for Canadian Internet industry stakeholders to harmonize their technical anti-spam practices in the context of ever evolving technology.