US Federal Trade Commission signed bilateral cooperation understanding memorandums on anti-spam with Spain, Mexico separately in 2005. “Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Enforcement Assistance in Commercial E-mail Matters” was between the Federal Trade Commission（FTC） of US and the Private Data Protection Agency of Spain（AEPD） aiming at strengthening cooperation among government agencies countering spam violation in information disclosure, investigation ,evidence obtaining and other areas[18]. In addition, “Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Assistance in Consumer Protection Matters ”， parties of which are US and Mexico, put enforcement cooperation of anti-spam into the frame of consumer protection[19].
2.3 Multi-lateral Agreements and Arrangements
2.3.1 the London Action Plan
“The London Action Plan on International Spam Enforcement Cooperation” was signed by governments and public agencies responsible for enforcing legislations concerning spam form 27 countries in October,2004,London, purpose of which was to promote international spam enforcement cooperation and address spam related problems, such as online fraud and deception, phishing, and dissemination of viruses. It is opened to other interested government , public agencies, and appropriate private sector representatives ,as a way to expand the network of entities engaged in spam enforcement cooperation. [20]
The main contents are as follows: the participating governments and public agencies ,intend to use their best efforts, in their respective areas of competence, to develop better international spam enforcement cooperation, and intend to use their best efforts to designate a point of contact within their agency for further enforcement communications under the Action Plan, encouraging communication and coordination among the different Agencies that have spam enforcement authority within their country or region to achieve efficient and effective enforcement, and to work with other Agencies within the same country or region to designate a primary contact for coordinating enforcement cooperation under this Action Plan. Taking part in periodic conference calls to discuss cases, legislative and law enforcement developments, encouraging dialogue between Agencies and appropriate private sector representatives ,encouraging and supporting the involvement of less developed countries in spam enforcement cooperation. [21] The London Action Plan gives similar appeals to the participating private sectors also.
As to concrete actions, the London Plan Action organized a few successful actions, as well as taking international “cracking down” movement specifically towards spam. More than 300 cross-border spam investigation and enforcement cooperation actions were launched in one day according to the Operating Platform Clean-out Action Plan in February, 2005. [22]
2.3.2 Europe and Asia Cooperation
EU promulgated Directive Concerning the Processing of Personal Data and the Protection of Privacy in the Electronic Communications Sector（“Directive on privacy and electronic communications”） in 2002, E-mail supervision involved. Its member states are required to prohibit direct marketing E-mails concealing the identity of the sender or without a valid address to which the recipient may send a cease request of further communications. [23]
On behalf of promoting governance on spam, 13 European Countries reached an agreement of anti-spam agencies sharing information and handling cross-border E-mail complaints in 2005, purpose of which was to make the identification and prosecution of spammers easier and establish a common procedure dealing with cross-border spam complaints at the same time. However, the agreement is not compulsory which only require participants to try their best effort to assist other members prohibiting spam. [24]
Asia-Europe （ASEM） eCommerce Conference was held afterwards, and a joint statement on international anti-spam cooperation was signed. The participants consented to taking action to combat spam nationally and to promoting constant cooperation of international organization and efforts on anti-spam. [25]
2.3.3 African Countries Cooperation
Nineteen CAPTEF countries signed a declaration on recognizing the importance of anti-spam, which emphasized collecting national contacts responsible for different areas ,and their dissemination to international organization. it also reinforced the cooperation in sharing information on legislation, specific country needs, and anti-spam technologies. [26]
2.3.4 Asia-Pacific Cooperation
For the sake of more countries and regions participation, “Seoul-Melbourne Memorandum of Understanding on Anti-Spam Multi-lateral Cooperation ” [27]a multi-lateral arrangement was developed on the blueprint of Australian anti-spam bilateral agreement, members of which are Australia, China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong（China）， Malaysia and some other associations and organizations up to the end of 2007. The contents are mainly about anti-spam legislation, supervision ,information and intelligence sharing, exchange channels establishment, similar to Seoul-Melbourne Memorandum of Understanding on Spam Supervision Cooperation singed by Australian Communications Authority （ACA） and the Korean Information Security Agency （KISA） in 2003.
