The French government’s Office for the Media Development has recently launched ‘Signal Spam’ which is a public/private initiative to increase public awareness of spam, monitor spamming activities and generate blacklists to block spammers.

Although the service doesn’t seem to be fully operational just yet, French-Law.net reports on what can be expected.  Internet users will be able to report spam in one of two ways.  The simplest way is to paste offending email content in to a web form and submit it.  French speaking Internet users will be able to register and install a plug-in available for both Outlook (2003/2007) or Thunderbird.  Unsolicited junk mail can then be submitted to Signal Spam at the click of a button.  It’s thought that integration with webmail clients such as Hotmail and Gmail may be a possibility in the near future.

In addition to this active spam fighting the website offers Internet users helpful advice on avoiding spam and useful links to anti-spam software and other anti-spam projects.