The problem of spam continues to get worse - but few European companies are willing to pay extra to their Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for protection.

Ian Fogg, senior broadband analyst with Jupiter Research, said that virus writers and spammers are increasingly working together, so services that deal with these problems can be bundled together naturally.

But speaking at the Openwave Messaging Anti-Abuse Conference, Fogg said: "In Europe there seems to be an unwillingness to pay for anti-spam measures. The number of companies willing to pay for antivirus protection is much higher.

"I expect to see many ISPs in Europe extend spam filtering as a free service."

Steve Linford, founder of anti-spam organisation Spamhaus, warned that links between organised crime, spammers and virus writers continue to grow.

"We expect quite an onslaught from Russia this year as there are now some pretty serious criminals involved in spamming," he said.

"Whatever filters are used by ISPs, they are intent on getting around them. They are tenacious and clever and the law can't touch them."

And Linford warned that anti-spam laws recently introduced in the US and Europe have failed to work as a deterrent.

The US Can Spam Act has made matters worse, he said, while the European e-Privacy Directive has splintered, with different member states implementing different penalties.

For example, in the UK the punishment is a £5,000 fine imposed by the Information Commissioner, but in Italy spamming can lead to a €90,000 (£60,000) fine and a prison sentence.

"UK spammers are not worried about the fines from the Information Commissioner. But this also means Italian spammers are coming over to the UK to avoid being prosecuted under Italian law," Linford told vnunet.com.

Philippe Gérard, a spokesman for the European Commssion's Information Society, told delegates that while precise sanctions were decided by member states, the Commission would be monitoring to make sure "real sanctions and investigation tools" were implemented.