Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the Georgia Slam Spam E-mail Act into law during a ceremony on campus attended by representatives from the Georgia Tech Information Security Center, EarthLink and the state Legislature.

"GTISC is committed to educating and promoting security among all of Georgia's Internet users," says director Mustaque Ahamad. "Providing Georgians with protection from unwanted e-mail solicitation and education on Internet security threats is a shared goal of both GTISC and our state leadership."

The new law allows any Georgia e-mail service provider and domain owner to bring legal action against a spammer. The legislation will work in tandem with the federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 that went into effect last year.

GTISC, a National Security Agency Center of Excellence in Information Assurance Education, is an interdisciplinary center involving faculty from the College of Computing, the Georgia Tech Research Institute, and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Public Policy.

Pete Wellborn, ICS 86, an Atlanta attorney and EarthLink's outside counsel, says, "The Slam Spam E-mail Act is a fantastic new weapon that will further enable us to keep all Georgians safe from spam. The state of Georgia is very fortunate to have organizations such as GTISC who work tirelessly to raise awareness about and explore solutions to Internet-based threats."