Recognizing WSIS Impacts

WTSA RESOLUTION 52 (Rev. Dubai, 2012)

Countering and combating spam

The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (Dubai, 2012),

• recognizing
  • a) relevant provisions of the basic instruments of ITU;
  • b) that the Declaration of Principles of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) states in § 37 that “Spam is a significant and growing problem for users, networks and the Internet as a whole. Spam and cybersecurity should be dealt with at appropriate national and international levels”;
  • c) that the WSIS Plan of Action states in § 12 that “Confidence and security are among the main pillars of the information society”, and calls for “appropriate action on spam at national and international levels”,
• recognizing further
  • a) the relevant parts of Resolution 130 (Rev. Guadalajara, 2010) and Resolution 174 (Guadalajara, 2010) of the Plenipotentiary Conference;
  • b) that developing Recommendations to combat spam falls within Objective 4 of the strategic plan for the Union for 2012-2015 (Part I, § 5) set out in Resolution 71 (Rev. Guadalajara, 2010) of the Plenipotentiary Conference;
  • c) the report of the chairman of the two ITU WSIS thematic meetings on countering and combating spam, which advocated a comprehensive approach to combating spam, namely:
    • i) strong legislation
    • ii) the development of technical measures
    • iii) the establishment of industry partnerships to accelerate the studies
    • iv) education
    • v) international cooperation,
• considering
  • a) that exchanging e-mails and other telecommunications over the Internet has become one of the main means of communication between people around the world;
  • b) that there are currently a variety of definitions for the term “spam”;
  • c) that spam has become a widespread problem causing potential loss of revenue to Internet service providers, telecommunication operators, mobile telecommunication operators and business users;
  • d) that countering spam by technical means burdens affected entities, including network operators and service providers, as well as users who unwillingly receive such spam, with significant investments in networks, facilities, terminal equipments and applications;
  • e) that spam creates problems of information and telecommunication network security, and is increasingly being used as a vehicle for phishing and spreading viruses, worms, spyware and other forms of malware, etc.;
  • f) that spamming is used for criminal, fraudulent or deceptive activities;
  • g) that spam is a global problem that requires international cooperation in order to find solutions;
  • h) that addressing the issue of spam is a matter of urgency;
  • i) that many countries, in particular developing countries1, need help when it comes to countering spam;
  • j) that relevant Recommendations of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and relevant information from other international bodies are available which could provide guidance for future development in this area, particularly with regard to lessons learned;
  • k) that technical measures to counter spam represent one of the approaches mentioned in recognizing further c) above,
• noting
  • the important technical work carried out to date in ITU-T Study Group 17, and in particular Recommendations ITU-T X.1231, ITU-T X.1240, ITU-T X.1241, ITU-T X.1242, ITU-T X.1243, ITU-T X.1244 and ITU-T X.1245,
• resolves to instruct the relevant study groups
  • 1 to continue to support ongoing work, in particular in Study Group 17, related to countering spam (e.g. e-mail) and to accelerate their work on spam in order to address existing and future threats within the remit and expertise of ITU-T, as appropriate;
  • 2 to continue collaboration with the relevant organizations (e.g. the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)), in order to continue developing, as a matter of urgency, technical Recommendations with a view to exchanging best practices and disseminating information through joint workshops, training sessions, etc.,
• further instructs ITU-T Study Group 17
  • to report regularly to the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group on progress under this resolution,
• instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau
  • 1 to provide all necessary assistance with a view to expediting such efforts;
  • 2 to initiate a study – including sending a questionnaire to the ITU membership –indicating the volume, types (e.g. e-mail spam, SMS spam, spam in IP-based multimedia applications) and features (e.g. different major routes and sources) of spam traffic, in order to help Member States and relevant operating agencies identify such routes, sources and volumes and estimate the amount of investment in facilities and other technical means to counter and combat such spam, taking into account work that has already been carried out;
  • 3 to continue to cooperate with the Secretary-General’s initiative on cybersecurity and with the Telecommunication Development Bureau in relation to any item concerning cybersecurity under Resolution 45 (Rev. Hyderabad, 2010) of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, and to ensure coordination among these different activities,
• invites Member States, Sector Members and Associates
  • to contribute to this work,
• further invites Member States
  • to take appropriate steps to ensure that appropriate and effective measures are taken within their national and legal frameworks to combat spam and its propagation.