Internet - Draft C . Jennings Expires : September 7 , 2006

Spam, defined as the transmission of bulk unsolicited messages, has plagued Internet email. Unfortunately, spam is not limited to email. It can affect any system that enables user to user communications. The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) defines a system for user to user multimedia communications. Therefore, it is susceptible to spam, just as email is. In this document, we analyze the problem of Rosenberg, et al. Expires September 7, 2006 [Page 1] Internet-Draft SIP Spam March 2006 spam in SIP. We first identify the ways in which the problem is the same and the ways in which it is different from email. We then examine the various possible solutions that have been discussed for email and consider their applicability to SIP. Discussions on this draft should be directed at [email protected].