One of the items in the terms of reference for the OECD's Spam Task Force set out in OECD Work on Spam (July 2004) reads: "To develop and promote an anti-spam 'toolkit' to facilitate the development and growth of anti-spam strategies, arrangements and solutions, and to facilitate international co-operation against spam."

In providing guidance, that document indicates, "The form of the toolkit will be initially defined by the Task Force, but possible elements of the toolkit include:

• regulation,
• self-regulation,
• technical measures,
• international enforcement co-operation,
• public-private partnerships, and
• awareness and education.

"The toolkit will aspire to take a comprehensive view of the key elements of a successful anti-spam strategy, not limiting itself to the areas singled out for further OECD work..."

As noted by the Chairman's report from the ITU WSIS Thematic Meeting on Countering Spam (July 2004), "Unsolicited commercial communications, or spam, as it is more usually known, has grown into one of the major plagues affecting today's digital world. Over the last ten years, spam has grown to represent almost 80 per cent of total email traffic, with spammers sending hundreds of millions of messages per day. The costs of spam to the global economy are approximately US $25 billion per year. This is now causing significant financial costs and losses inproductivity for service providers, businesses and end-users alike. With the growing dependence of users on hte Internet and email for their personal and professional communications, the phenomenon of spam is hampering the development of the information society by undermining user confidence and trust in online activities."

The fight against spam exemplifies how governments are finding themselves in a position of interdependence, having to cooperate to meet the needs of their citizens in the online environment.