Open-source security infrastructure can be taken to the next step by augmenting it with commercial solutions, according to Gabriel Mizrahi, vice president technologies at Commtouch(R). Mr. Mizrahi will be speaking about this subject at WebhostingDay this week in Cologne, Germany.

Commtouch is a leading global provider of messaging and Web security technology, offering easy-to-integrate solutions for hosting and service providers that increase customer satisfaction while reducing capital and operating expenditures.

“Leading hosting companies are already using Commtouch’s solutions to reduce infrastructure and help desk costs and improve spam detection with fewer false positives,” said Ofer Tal, vice president of international sales and business development at Commtouch. “This improved service helps to enhance their customer satisfaction and bottom line.”

Commtouch’s cloud-based spam, phishing and email malware protection, along with its perimeter defense technologies, have been shown to reduce hosting providers’ hardware expenses by up to 85% and user bandwidth costs by as much as 80%, and significantly decrease help desk calls and IT administration time.

Commtouch’s solutions can leverage existing infrastructure investments through a set of integration tools into open-source and commercial messaging software, as well as provisioning platforms such as Parallels Plesk, H-Sphere and cPanel. Specifically, Commtouch provides the following easy integration tools:

– Plug-ins for common open-source email filtering packages such as SpamAssassin

– Milter for Sendmail and Postfix

– Connector to hosted and managed Microsoft Exchange Server environments.

Members of the Commtouch team will be available to discuss the company’s messaging and Web security solutions that complement open source technologies at WebhostingDay 2010, from March 17-19th, 2010 in Cologne, Germany.

Mr. Mizrahi will be speaking at 16:00, March 18 about “Taking Your Open Source Security Solutions to the Next Level.”

Commtouch will be exhibiting at the conference. To schedule a meeting with a Commtouch representative at WebhostingDay, please contact events@commtouch.com.

The opposite is true. The health care bill the House of Representatives passed Nov. 7 would not allow insurance plans sold through a proposed government-regulated health care exchange to cover abortions except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is in danger.

The mailer claims a “government run health care experiment … federally mandates coverage of abortion.”

The statements in the mailer are accurate, Broun spokeswoman Jessica Morris said.

“It states, ‘Dr. Broun will fight to stop health care plans that: … Federally mandates coverage of abortion,’ and that is what he will continue to do,” Morris said.

Some constituents who received the brochure complained it left the false impression that the House bill mandates abortion coverage.

“I think it’s totally misleading,” Athens resident John English said.

The mailer was finished two weeks ago, before the House passed an amendment to the health care bill by anti-abortion Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., Morris said. The amendment bars both the public option – a proposed government-run health care program – and subsidized plans offered by private insurers from covering most abortions.

The four-page color brochures were printed and mailed at taxpayer expense. They were sent to about 100,000 registered voters, Morris said.

Russell Edwards, a University of Georgia law student who runs an anti-Broun political action committee, called them a waste of tax money.

“Paul Broun Jr.’s use of taxpayers’ funds and public resources for his own personal agenda is wrong,” Edwards said. “His health care mailers are only meant to scare families in our district into giving him their money and their vote.”

The Franking Commission, a bipartisan committee of lawmakers, vets all taxpayer-funded mass mailings from congressmen to constituents to ensure they are not too political.

Broun was criticized for his use of the franking privilege in early 2008, when he spent most of his office budget for the year to send about nine letters and brochures while in the midst of a hard-fought primary race.

“Dr. Broun values direct communication with his constituents and frequently sends important updates through the mail,” Morris said.

The brochure also includes an outline of Broun’s own health care bill and a survey that recipients can fill out and return to his office.