Today I am attending the public workshop of the Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC) in Washington DC.

The ASC is an organization that includes member of the anti-virus industry, such as myself, the Federal Trade Commission, ISPs, educators, the press, and many other people. The complete agenda of today’s meeting can be viewed at http://antispywarecoalition.org/events/jan2008.php.

It may at times appear that the menace of threats on the internet is overwhelming, but some progress is being made. In recent times the FTC has successfully sued Zango, who the FTC indicates was responsible for 6.9 billion pop-up ads.

By setting industry wide definitions and standards we are better able to create enforcement, and even defend ourselves against unscrupulous lawsuits threatened by purveyors of spyware and adware who do not want their software detected by anti-virus companies.

I’ll report back on some of the presentations. Of particular interest will be a panel discussion titled “CSI Spyware: Can Investigators Stay Ahead of the Bad Guys?” and, as Director of Technical Education for ESET, the panel titled “Education: What Works and What Doesn’t?”

The fascinating thing about the anti-virus industry is that when we get into a meeting such as ASC workshops, competitors become very loyal allies.

Randy Abrams is the Director of Technical Education for ESET LLC