Anti-spam filters "erode freedom"

Spammers and internet users are locked in an arms race, which neither can win, the London Internet Exchange (LINX) told MPs investigating spam this week.

The internet hub, which handles UK internet traffic, is trying to convince MPs on the All Party Internet Group's Spam Inquiry that ISPs should not be forced to install anti-spam filters in their systems.

It maintains that whatever technology the law forces ISPs to fit will be quickly outwitted by spammers and that anti-spam filtering will stop delivery of genuine emails.

Linx said it is also concerned that forcing ISPs to install anti-spam filtering will "erode freedom of choice for internet users".

Malcolm Hutty, regulation officer at Linx, told the Inquiry: "Spam evolves. As each new technique is developed to identify and block spam automatically, spammers develop new means of frustrating the filters."

He added: "The war against spam is therefore like an arms race where first one side draws ahead, and then the other, but neither side ever achieves a conclusive victory."

Hutty said that ISP members of Linx "actively combat spam" which costs an ISP with a million customers around $7m (£4.2m) per year to tackle.