At a conference called to debate anti-spam measures, the US and UK governments said that closer collaboration is needed to stop spammers as most spam originated overseas so cross-border co-operation is vital to combat this menace.

In 2001 only 10 percent of e-mail sent was spam but now almost 60 percent of all mail is classified as junk according to data revealed at the International Spam Enforcement Workshop, which was held by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

Deborah Majoras chairperson of the FTC said " spammers hide behind the cloak of anonymity" provided by the latest technology and the path from a spammer to a consumer' s inbox typically crosses one or more borders.

Tracing the origins of spam is the biggest problem, according to the FTC head, who called for more sharing of information to track down spam gangs. John Vickers, OFT chairperson said that spam is more than just a nuisance as statistics show that more than half of all spam is now produced by spammers keen on fleecing people out of their money or personal information. (Tradewatch)