SAN FRANCISCO, February 6 /PRNewswire/ --

The London Action Plan (LAP), an important coalition of public and private entities from 27 countries cooperating on international spam law enforcement, has invited the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) to join the alliance. MAAWG is a global association of network operators, email providers and vendors, and will work to support LAP efforts to strengthen international cooperation in fighting spam and other online abuse.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070124/CLW180LOGO )

"MAAWG is a key international venue for sharing and improving on the most effective techniques to combat online abuse, spam and fraud. MAAWG's participation in the London Action Plan further advances the global cooperation between public agencies and private industry that is essential to protect consumers and commerce," said Hugh Stevenson, Deputy Director for International Consumer Protection in the Office of International Affairs at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, one of the agencies serving as LAP's Secretariat.

LAP members cooperate on cross-border spam-related matters, as permitted within the laws of their respective countries. The effort grew out of a 2004 meeting to develop a cooperative program furthering the work of various international organizations addressing these issues, including the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the OECD Spam Task Force, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the European Union (EU), the International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network (ICPEN), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

The newly appointed MAAWG Public Policy Chair, Susan Israel of Comcast, said, "Online abuse now flows seamlessly and consistently across borders everywhere. An important aspect of MAAWG is building the cooperative relationships between our members, who are private-sector industry leaders, and public agencies worldwide to better address these problems. Working with LAP is an important milestone in this effort."

LAP and the European Union's Contact Network of Spam Authorities co-located their most recent joint meeting in October 2007 in Washington, D.C. with the MAAWG 11th General Meeting. MAAWG will hold its next members-only meeting of about 300 industry professionals in San Francisco on Feb. 18-20. The meeting will feature both open discussion and expert presentations on abuse abatement, public policy issues, sender authentication, reputation management, and understanding the end-user experience. Details are available at www.MAAWG.org.

About the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG)

The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) is where the messaging industry comes together to work against spam, viruses, denial-of-service attacks and other online exploitation. MAAWG (www.MAAWG.org) represents almost one billion mailboxes from some of the largest network operators worldwide. It is the only organization addressing messaging abuse holistically by systematically engaging all aspects of the problem, including technology, industry collaboration and public policy. MAAWG leverages the depth and experience of its global membership to tackle abuse on existing networks and new emerging services. Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., MAAWG is an open forum driven by market needs and supported by major network operators and messaging providers.

Media Contact: Linda Marcus, APR, 714-974-6356, lmarcus@astra.cc, Astra Communications

MAAWG Sponsors (Board of Directors): AOL; AT&T (NYSE: T); Bell Canada; Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR); Cloudmark; Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA); Cox Communications (NYSE: COX); EarthLink (Nasdaq: ELNK); France Telecom (NYSE and Euronext: FTE); Goodmail Systems; Google Inc.; Openwave Systems (Nasdaq: OPWV); Time Warner Cable; Verizon Communications; and Yahoo! Inc.

MAAWG Full Members: 1&1 Internet AG; AG Interactive; Bizanga LTD; Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ); Ironport Systems; McAfee Inc.; MX Logic; Outblaze LTD; Return Path, Inc.; Sprint; Sun Microsystems, Inc.; Symantec; and Telefonica SA

A complete member list is available at http://www.maawg.org/about/roster.

Web site: http://www.maawg.org/about/roster http://www.maawg.org

Linda Marcus for Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group, +1-714-974-6356, lmarcus@astra.cc ; Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070124/CLW180LOGO, AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org, PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com