Tiscali Press Release - TISCALI LAUNCHES SECURE MAIL WITH ANTI-SPAM AND ANTI-VIRUS

Tiscali UK, a subsidiary of Tiscali, the Internet communication company, is launching Secure Mail incorporating Brightmail anti-spam and anti-virus software to enable its broadband and narrowband customers to better manage unsolicited email. The product is available for customers to download from the Tiscali portal for a single charge of £4.99 a year.

Tiscali previewed the new product with a pop-up on the portal to evaluate take-up, resulting in 6,500 provisional orders in just four days. Neal McCleave media director for Tiscali says: "Un-solicited email is rapidly becoming an issue for home and business users and it's a problem which is being compounded by the fact that 90% of viruses come via email."

He adds: "However, we are now able to give Tiscali email users further protection against viruses and the opportunity to better manage their inbox. Brightmail gives the customer a choice of configurations depending on their preference and parents the peace of mind in protecting their children's email accounts."

Spam has become a key issue for the industry as it is estimated that over 40% of all email is now spam. Furthermore, a European Commission study last year estimated that the cost of 'junk' email to Internet users worldwide was in the region of 10bn euros. Such statistics have reached the attention of the All-Party Parliamentary Internet Group (APIG), which has commissioned a public inquiry into the subject and is holding a 'Spam Summit' on 1 July.

McCleave continues: "It will be interesting to see what the APIG recommends in terms of action to control the distribution of spam. From the industry's perspective one of the things we can do is to provide the means and education to enable our customer to protect their email from it."

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