Public Policy Committee

Through the dedicated efforts of our public policy committee members, MAAWG has been recognized as one of the most important and inclusive organizations in the messaging security industry and is often asked to interface on government and agency initiatives targeting spam and malware.  MAAWG representatives are frequently invited to share our organization’s expertise at international proceedings, such as the United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) annual events.  We also maintain close links with regulatory authorities in several regions of the world, including the U.S. Federal Communications Committee, the European Commission and various public agencies responsible for technological strategy.

To keep MAAWG members informed on new and evolving global regulations, this committee frequently organizes MAAWG Public Policy Influencers Roundtables that are open to all participants at our general meetings and feature international policy architects and law enforcement agents.  The MAAWG Public Policy Committee is led by co-chairs from both North America and Europe.

Global industry collaboration is a key component of the MAAWG approach to systematically tackling online abuse.  Promoting a greater understanding of messaging security issues and cooperation among all the vital communities interested in maintaining online safety are organizational priorities.  The MAAWG Public Policy Committee is responsible for these global outreach efforts and much of the resulting work, while also serving as a communications channel between other organizations and related MAAWG efforts.

 A few of the MAAWG accomplishments driven by this committee include:

• Direct participation in the OECD's anti-spam task force that resulted in the creation of the MAAWG Email Metrics Program, the first and only global snapshot of abusive email traffic provided directly from ISPs and network operators. 
• MAAWG is an associate member of the London Action Plan (LAP), an international network of agencies coordinating anti-spam actions across borders, and an associate partner of the StopSpamAlliance, a trusted communications channel and global network of organizations working to preserve the integrity of the online community.
• MAAWG has held joint meetings with the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), the EU Contact Network of Spam Authorities (CSNA) and LAP.  MAAWG has organized training for international law enforcement agencies.

The MAAWG Public Policy Committee also has hosted a variety of international and influential government and agency speakers at MAAWG meetings, including representatives from the:

• Harvard Law School, Berkman Center for Internet and Security
• CERT.br (Computer Emergency Response Team Brazil)
• Competition Bureau Canada
• ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency)
• European Commission
• ICANN
• Incident Responder KISA (Korea Information Security Agency)
• Internet Research Task Force Anti-Spam Research Group
• International Telecommunication Union Strategy and Policy Unit, and the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) Regulatory Reform Unit
• U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Homeland Security Offices

All MAAWG members are welcome to participate in open public policy sessions at our general meetings.  Members can also suggest topics for committee work and invited speakers.