An industry organization representing heavyweight e-mail providers Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp., America Online Inc. and EarthLink Inc. released recommendations for ending unsolicited commercial ("spam") e-mail, according to a statement by the group.

The Anti-Spam Technical Alliance's (ASTA) Statement of Intent, released Tuesday, includes a list of suggestions and "best practice" recommendations for Internet service providers (ISPs), e-mail service providers, governments, corporations and bulk e-mail senders.

Among other things, ASTA recommended that ISPs shut down so-called "open relays," or e-mail servers that allow parties that do not own the mail server to relay mail through them without needing to log in first. The group also suggested that ISPs crack down on virus and worm-infected computers on their network and closely monitor features that let people automatically register for ISP accounts.

By Paul Roberts at Info World.

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