Internet Industry Association

PDF file of the IIA Spam Code.

Summary of code provisions

The code requires internet service providers and email service providers: 

• to tell their subscribers what default filtering of the subscriber’s email the internet service provider or email service provider does at its own servers.
• to advise their subscribers how to deal with, and report, spam.
• to ensure their Acceptable Use Policies prohibit the use of their networks for spamming; and to inform their subscribers to that effect.
• to comply with all lawful requests of law enforcement and regulatory agencies investigating spam activity.

The code requires internet service providers:

• to retain the right in their Acceptable Use Policies to scan their own networks for subscribers’ misconfigured mail and proxy servers.
• to ensure their Acceptable Use Policies allow for the immediate termination of connections they host where the connection has become an open relay or open server, either due to intentional misconfiguration or to unintentional infection by a virus or other intrusion (ie. become a zombie).
• if notified that a subscriber’s account is spamming (eg. because the subscriber’s computer is a zombie), to take reasonable steps to warn the subscriber and offer suggestions on how to correct the problem. The internet service provider may immediately terminate the connection if the problem is serious or continuing.
• internet service providers using dynamic IP address allocation to use all reasonable efforts to retain records of subscriber allocation for at least seven days.