Microsoft's demands for control of essential Internet standards belie its commitments to security for all. The fight against spam is both practical and symbolic. It directly affects our ability to benefit from the Net, and it epitomises the balance between free access and control. A new standard, Sender ID, makes it easier to reject email that doesn't come from its purported source. It's not the magic bullet, but it's certainly part of the gun. Yet Microsoft is actively hindering the adoption of this standard. Uniquely among Internet standards, Microsoft's restrictive licence is plainly incompatible with open source, in theory and in practice. It can do this, the company says, because it holds intellectual property -- in the form of pending patents -- on basic ideas used in the standard, and thus it is free to demand that anyone who incorporates the standard in a product must comply with Microsoft's conditions. Ask the company why it needs to make this demand and no good answer is forthcoming.