If Australia's government follows this advice, it would apparently become the first nation to take the campaign against unsolicited bulk e-mail to an international level. The report suggests turning to groups like the Economic Cooperation and Development Organization (OECD) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to persuade other governments to enact antispam laws.

Because spam is such a fluid problem around national borders, some experts have concluded that technical countermeasures or a global consensus represent the two most promising approaches to fighting the ever-growing deluge. The 46-page report, released late Tuesday from Australia's National Office for the Information Economy, also recommends bilateral talks between Australia and individual nations.

"We will pursue all the multilateral options and do what we can to negotiate arrangements with countries that seem to us to be the most relevant," said Richard Alston, Australia's communications minister.

[ Read more ]