http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_36/b3848009_mz001.htm

SEPTEMBER 8, 2003

COVER STORY

Commentary:
From Open Doors to Gated Communities

No introductions are needed. You already know the Nigerian with the overflowing
bank account and the loudmouthed financier offering dirt-cheap mortgages. The
guy in the lab coat? His miracle pills and organ enhancements are old news.
Thanks to a flood of junk e-mail, or spam, messages from this dubious crowd now
account for 50% of all electronic mail. In clogging up the Internet, spam is
rapidly turning e-mail into an annoyance and eroding productivity as workers
are forced to sift through scores or even hundreds of messages.

And it's getting worse. Sophisticated spammers are unleashing viruses that turn
undefended computers into spamming machines. Hackers are also using the same
technique for mass-mailings of dangerous viruses and worms. They are
"gravitating toward e-mail," says Linda Beck, executive
vice-president for operations at Internet service provider EarthLink Inc. As a
result, the global e-mail system, one of the most prodigious productivity tools
of the Digital Age, is under siege.

What can be done? Ask anyone in Washington or Silicon Valley, and you'll hear
answers. New laws, new filters, you name it. But each one has flaws. None
promises lasting relief. Increasingly, it appears that to master spam and
reclaim electronic mail as a trusted communications medium, the entire e-mail
system must be rethought. This will entail important sacrifices, ones that are
bound to rob e-mail of its freedom, breadth, and spontaneity. Drastic measures
are bound to run up against fierce resistance. But that may well melt away in
the coming year as the spam crisis mounts.

It's bound to intensify as spammers hurdle every obstacle thrown in their way.
Consider filters. In early jousts, filters blocked messages advertising, say,
Viagra. Spammers responded with V!agra. Tighter filters establish so-called
white lists. These instruct PCs to accept messages only from approved senders.
But now, in the age of virus-powered spam, junk mail is likely to come straight
from the computers of close friends and colleagues. Brace yourself for V!agra
pitches from Mom.

Don't count
on much help from Washington. Earlier this year, Congress debated tough
measures. This sparked an outcry from legitimate marketers, who rely on the
Internet to communicate with customers and suppliers. For now, the modest bills
under deliberation would make it illegal for spammers to hide their return
addresses or falsify their identities. Spammers, however, are expected to pay
little heed to these or any other laws. And if the estimated 300 spammers who
dominate the field feel too much pressure from the Federal Trade Commission,
they can always move more operations overseas, a process already under way.
Effective global agreements regulating spam are years away at best.

This means that companies and individuals alike may well have to refashion
e-mail. To stem the tide of spam, look for the wide-open e-mail system of today
to subdivide into millions of mini, self-contained networks, each serving its
own trusted circle. For starters, companies can be expected to tighten controls
on their private networks, known as intranets. If the Internet has been a Leave
It to Beaver neighborhood with doors unlocked to all, spam will turn it
into a constellation of gated communities with no-nonsense digital guards at
the entrance. "We're entering a new era," says Aviel Rubin, technical
director at Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
"More extreme measures are needed."

Even these gated communities will require ever-tougher anti-spam technology --
and that is bound to slow communications. In an era of virus-generated mail,
for example, it will be crucial to distinguish between machine- and
human-generated mail. Perhaps the sender will have to answer a question to gain
access to your inbox.

Slow and painful? You bet. And a nightmare for e-merchants whose machines send
millions of e-mails. Plenty of inconvenient adjustments are ahead en route to
this new world. But with spammers spewing viruses and come-ons by the billions,
building a tough new Internet may be the only choice.

By Stephen Baker

With Lorraine Woellert in Washington

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The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.

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