Infocomm technology has been a tremendous gift to many of us, yet, it faces many challenges – key issues being cyber security and fraud. Bearing this in mind, a group of enterprising organizations in Singapore recently joined forces and set up the Internet Industry Association of Singapore (IIAS), a non-profit and independent Association that intends to be the voice of the Internet industry in the island nation.

Officially launched in March 2005, the IIAS will provide counsel and advice on a range of business and market issues, and in addition, aims to enhance access, equity, reliability and growth of the Internet medium here and in the region.

J. Anton Ravindran, the founding chairman of IIAS reveals that the idea to form a local Internetrelated organization occurred during the visit of Peter Coroneos of the Internet Industry Association of Australia, in September 2004.Representatives from like-minded enterprises in Singapore, including the current founding members, met-up with him and discussed the idea of setting up a similar association here. Elaborating on what drove the founding of IIAS, Ravindran notes, “Nowadays, it is almost impossible to find any company that operates completely offline in Singapore. However, while infocomm technology continues to evolve and enrich our lives, the Internet industry faces its own set of pressing concerns such as cyber security, open source standards, offensive online content, and frauds, which could inexorably hinder the growth of the

industry and encumber consumer confidence. The IIAS aims to be a driving force for those within the industry who seek to address these issues.”

In an interview with Asian e-Marketing, Ravindran gives insights into where he thinks e-marketing and e-commerce in Singapore are heading.

What more needs to be done for emarketing in Singapore, especially to make it more accepted?
To implement e-marketing, its lifecycle should be firstly understood. Companies with an online presence should be enlightened about how to acquire more visitors, increase retention and loyalty, and drive revenue. Whether one is looking to implement a targeted email marketing campaign to promote a web site, or is willing to improve its search engine rankings, the need is to research, develop and execute a strategic Internet marketing plan.

What is your take on Singapore emarketers especially with regards to the issue of spam?
Appropriate e-mail marketing requires marketers to target their messages and to provide recipients with genuine contact information as well as a genuine opportunity to have their names removed from future mailings. In this respect, the Direct Marketing Association of Singapore (DMAS) has drawn up a set of rules to guide marketers who seek to use the e-mail marketing channel responsibly. This step will solve the problem of spam and will result in better emarketing.

Do you think the IIAS efforts will help Singapore e-marketers? How?
One of our objectives is to build confidence in using the Internet for both businesses and non-commercial purposes. With this, we are not just dealing with users but also service providers and marketers that utilize the Internet extensively for their business.

The latter group would require education, guidelines and standards in ensuring that they comply with legislations concerning the proper and ethical use of computers and the Internet. emarketers could face some serious issues, especially when it comes to spam.

What is the IIAS take on spam?
Spam in simple terms is any form of unwanted email. In Singapore, one out of every 3 e-mails received is spam. It is causing more than S$20 million in lost productivity each year.

Many of the activities associated with the more serious forms of spamming are already illegal in Singapore. It is a criminal offence to engage in e-mail fraud or to obstruct the use of a computer through spamming. Sending spam that contains false or misleading advertising or product claims, or that contains pornography is also unlawful.

On the other hand, spamming per se is currently legal in Singapore. To close this gap, the Singapore government is proposing to enact an anti-spam law.

This proposed law will balance the interests of businesses seeking to advertise via e-mails legitimately with the interest of e-mail users, protecting them from being deluged by unwanted e-mail solicitations. It will deter local spammers and clarify the rules for local marketers. It will also give ISPs, who are the main victims of spam, a right of legal recourse against spammers. At the moment, the major ISPs in Singapore already have procedures in place to investigate spam reports and take appropriate action against spammers.

What is the Association doing specifically with regards to the spam problem?
One of the initiatives that the Association will take is to educate the general public in Singapore about the ways and means of fighting spam.

He also believes that anti-spam legislation is an effective deterrent saying, “Spam legislation criminalizes spam and thus the enforcement of these laws leads to penalties, thereby decreasing the profit model for spammers. With effective anti-spam legislation, it is no longer a lucrative and low-risk activity to send spam.” He adds, “While spam may become manageable due to effective deployment of technology such as CipherTrust IronMail, there are always new threats, and IronMail is positioned at the gateway to manage any threats to enterprise messaging systems – now and in the future.”

Serrano also has positive views regarding the often panned US Can-Spam Act, noting, “It has been a solid first step.

Firstly, because it drew public attention to messaging security – for example, enabling both the public as well as private individuals to better protect our own piece of cyberspace as per the national strategy to secure cyberspace (a Y2000 US document from the White House). Secondly, the Act has criminalized the act of spamming.”

CipherTrust is actively pushing for anti-spam awareness and legislation in this region. Serrano says the company is doing this especially through its research team that provides sanitized messaging security trend data and statistics on current as well as emerging threats to law enforcement agencies and various governments. “This type of information can help legislators make wiser decisions in crafting legislation based on current atmosphere. It also helps to locate the phishers and spammers. In fact, law enforcement and governments have included CipherTrust among their trusted resources for help in these areas,” elaborates Serrano.