ISC, Brightmail join forces to combat spam

Chilean Internet solutions provider ISC will set up locally an antispam laboratory to manage local and international e-mail traffic, Chilean technology news site Mundo En Linea reported. The initiative follows an exclusive representation agreement ISC signed with US antispam technology developer Brightmail for Chile and all of Latin America. ISC's executive director Rodrigo Lafuente said the objective of the lab would be to create blacklists and dynamically reacting filters to intercept spam. The company is currently working with 20 local Internet service providers (ISPs) to apply Brightmail antispam software to e-mail accounts on a trial basis, he added. "There is an important... loss in professional resources and infrastructure [due to spam]. We are conscious of the negative effects, particularly on Internet service providers," he said, noting a study from the Santiago Chamber of Commerce (CCS), which indicated that the Chilean economy lost US$36mn last year from spam. Brightmail's solutions are already being used in over 2,000 ISPs worldwide, including Hotmail, AT&T WorldNet, EarthLink, MSN and Verizon Online.