Subject: [Asrg] Passing on the torch

From: Paul Judge <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 11:58:54 -0500

I wish to inform the group that I am stepping down from my role as co-chair
of the ASRG. 

The ASRG started with an email that I sent to Vern in January. We chartered
the group in March and held a physical meeting co-located with the 56th
IETF. Since then, the group has grown to over 600 members. The group is
guided by a research agenda that includes three phases: understanding the
problem, proposing solutions, and evaluating solutions. Based on this, the
group has a work item list that includes about 20 research tasks and
proposals, several of which have already been published as Internet Drafts.
My vision for the ASRG was to provide a forum for contributors to anti-spam
technology as well as expose the spam problem to researchers from other
disciplines in order to spark collaboration and steer the anti-spam efforts
around sound methodologies. The ASRG is currently fulfilling this vision and
is on track to make meaningful contributions to anti-spam technology.

At this juncture, I am comfortable with the momentum and direction of the
ASRG. Yakov joined me as co-chair a month and a half ago and has worked
diligently to help manage day-to-day operations. As I step down Yakov will
be joined by an equally capable co-chair, John Levine. I am very confident
that Yakov and John will continue to guide the ASRG towards fulfilling its
vision. We will work together to ensure a seamless transition and I will be
available for advice as necessary.

By stepping down from this role, I am in no way stepping away from anti-spam
research. I have spent the last few years focusing on email security and
spam. Along the way, I started Spam Archive last November, then spoke about
the need for spam research at the Spam Conference in January, and founded
the ASRG in March. Beyond this, I've identified several critical needs. This
change will allow me to focus more time on a number of other efforts that
are important in solving the global spam problem.

Firstly, it has become evident that while anti-spam technology is the core
of local spam solutions, it must be coupled with other efforts in order to
solve the global spam problem. These include legislative and user
education/awareness efforts. I will spend time focusing on the interactions
between these types of efforts and the underlying relationships that are
necessary across organizations to achieve this.

Secondly, I will continue to be an active member of the ASRG. Handing over
the role of co-chair will allow me additional time to be more hands-on with
particular work items. I am quite interested in helping to move forward with
the RMX-type solutions. We formed a subgroup with the authors of these
proposals and produced a discussion/evaluation paper about these approaches.
We are now looking forward to handing these proposals over to the IETF. I
also have a strong interest in the analysis and characterization work that
we formed a subgroup around. 

Lastly, I will continue to focus directly on email security and anti-spam
technologies in my role as CTO of CipherTrust. This role is important
because it is what exposed me to the anti-spam problem and led me to form
the ASRG. The knowledge gained by being on the frontline is invaluable. I'm
sure this perspective is shared by many of the group members that are also
on the frontline.

Thanks to everyone here for their involvement thus far in the anti-spam
efforts and thank you specifically for your contributions to the ASRG. It is
rare to come upon such an important and complex problem. Due to the work of
all of the members of the anti-spam community, we are experiencing a shift
in the spam battle as our efforts are forcing spammers to take very
defensive and desperate measures. We should be proud of our accomplishments
thus far, yet focused on continued progress, and also excited about the
point in the near future when we have sufficiently controlled the spam
problem.

Regards,
Paul

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