The London Action Plan (LAP) held a joint meeting last 16-17 April in Brussels with Cross-border Enforcement and Cooperation (CPC) of the European Commission (CE), the Internet Enforcement Continued Coordination and Delivery (IECCD), which is part of the consumer protection cooperation network, an EC-financed project, and the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN).
The LAP initially focused on fighting spam, though it now concentrates on internet security, specifically fighting botnets (manipulated computer networks that use spam messages to spread malware).
The meeting included various parallel panels, some more technical and others to share practical cases, as specifically resolved by the Office of Fair Trade (OFT) of the United Kingdom, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Cooperation was the word most in the air, in both national and international contexts. The most notable case of national cooperation may be considered that of the Netherlands, where three bodies merged: the regulators for telecommunications, consumer defence and competition. Regarding international cooperation, a high point was the announcement of Europe's Advanced Cyber Defence Centre (ACDC) pilot project to fight botnets. This 30-month project runs from 1 February 2013 to 31 July 2015 and will cost a total of 15,500 euros, of which 7,700 euros are EC-financed.
