According to an April 2004 MessageLabs report, 83% of the email traffic in the United States can be attributed to spam. They state in the April Report that "of all of the 841.4 million emails MessageLabs scanned in April, 77.8 million were found to contain viruses and 568.9 million were spam. From this we can deduce that the global average for spam is 67% and that 9.2% of global emails contain some form of virus."
Clearly spam is a dilemma of epidemic proportions. Some industry experts and elected officials have taken on the battle against spam and consider it to be a threat to the effectiveness of electronic communications in general. The feeling is that if more than 80% of what users get in their email inbox is junk users will stop using email.
Douglas Schweitzer, security expert and author of Incident Response, says "Eventually, most everyone with an e-mail address will receive some form of spam. In fact, it is now estimated that over 50% of all e-mail traffic is comprised of spam and more unsettling, today?s spam is usually fraudulent (or at least deceptive) in nature. The heavier burdens placed on ISPs as a result of the excess unsolicited e-mail traffic results in increased costs which are ultimately passed on to subscribers, both business and consumer."
Legislation passed recently in the United States is aimed at eliminating that "fraudulent" part that Schweitzer refers to. The CAN-SPAM Act still allows for unsolicited commercial email, but requires that the companies generating the spam provide an effective means for users to opt out or unsubscribe from receiving any further messages.
On the surface it seems like a great idea. Anything that can be done to highlight the epidemic and provide some means of reducing the spam in users' inboxes must be a good thing. However, laws only work for the lawful. Part of the CAN-SPAM Act prohibits email spoofing or falsifying email headers as well as hijacking unprotected email servers to relay spam. There are a few other unscrupulous practices outlawed by the act. The problem is that those who would use such deceptive or unscrupulous practices in the first place most likely aren't concerned about the laws.
Another problem introduced by legislation such as the CAN-SPAM Act is "the law actually helps to legitimatize spam, rather than outlaw it" according to the MessageLabs report.
By providing guidelines and boundaries within which unsolicited commercial messages are acceptable you don't necessarily help reduce or eliminate spam email- you simply provide a set of rules for the spammers to follow. One person's "junk" mail is the answer to another person's quest for the perfect bargain.
Marcus Ranum, author of Myth of Homeland Security and Senior Scientist at risk management company Trusecure Corporation points out that much of what we receive through other media is also unsolicited marketing of some sort. "Spam is a weapon of mass distraction. But, if you look at the problem realistically, it's not that big a deal. Many people aren't bothered by the 15-20% of network television that consists of marketing. Or the 20-50% of magazine content, or the 10-20% of radio content, or the billboards, or the logos. I'm not sure why spam is more annoying - unless it's in terms of raw percentages. Put differently: what would the world look like if 80% of constructed surfaces were marketing?"
The MessageLabs report does claim that major Internet service providers have reported a decline in total spam volume and user complaints since the CAN-SPAM legislation became effective, so it appears to be having at least a short-term affect. Still, just like the junk mail in your mailbox spam is most likely here to stay.
Ranum added "The good news about spam is that it's easy to deal with. I use a mail client (Eudora) with built-in bayesian spam filters. It gets about 95% of my spam automatically. So now spam is no more significant to me in percentages than any other form of marketing."
Clearly, with the right software and filters users can greatly reduce or eliminate the amount of spam that actually makes it to their inbox. Even the latest junk mail filters in Outlook and Outlook Express are improved and are able to catch a great deal of spam.
Hopefully between legislation, ISP's filtering known spam and users implementing software and filters to catch the rest this epidemic can be brought under control and users can get the most value and productivity possible out of their email communications.
Clearly spam is a dilemma of epidemic proportions. Some industry experts and elected officials have taken on the battle against spam and consider it to be a threat to the effectiveness of electronic communications in general. The feeling is that if more than 80% of what users get in their email inbox is junk users will stop using email.
Douglas Schweitzer, security expert and author of Incident Response, says "Eventually, most everyone with an e-mail address will receive some form of spam. In fact, it is now estimated that over 50% of all e-mail traffic is comprised of spam and more unsettling, today?s spam is usually fraudulent (or at least deceptive) in nature. The heavier burdens placed on ISPs as a result of the excess unsolicited e-mail traffic results in increased costs which are ultimately passed on to subscribers, both business and consumer."
Legislation passed recently in the United States is aimed at eliminating that "fraudulent" part that Schweitzer refers to. The CAN-SPAM Act still allows for unsolicited commercial email, but requires that the companies generating the spam provide an effective means for users to opt out or unsubscribe from receiving any further messages.
On the surface it seems like a great idea. Anything that can be done to highlight the epidemic and provide some means of reducing the spam in users' inboxes must be a good thing. However, laws only work for the lawful. Part of the CAN-SPAM Act prohibits email spoofing or falsifying email headers as well as hijacking unprotected email servers to relay spam. There are a few other unscrupulous practices outlawed by the act. The problem is that those who would use such deceptive or unscrupulous practices in the first place most likely aren't concerned about the laws.
Another problem introduced by legislation such as the CAN-SPAM Act is "the law actually helps to legitimatize spam, rather than outlaw it" according to the MessageLabs report.
By providing guidelines and boundaries within which unsolicited commercial messages are acceptable you don't necessarily help reduce or eliminate spam email- you simply provide a set of rules for the spammers to follow. One person's "junk" mail is the answer to another person's quest for the perfect bargain.
Marcus Ranum, author of Myth of Homeland Security and Senior Scientist at risk management company Trusecure Corporation points out that much of what we receive through other media is also unsolicited marketing of some sort. "Spam is a weapon of mass distraction. But, if you look at the problem realistically, it's not that big a deal. Many people aren't bothered by the 15-20% of network television that consists of marketing. Or the 20-50% of magazine content, or the 10-20% of radio content, or the billboards, or the logos. I'm not sure why spam is more annoying - unless it's in terms of raw percentages. Put differently: what would the world look like if 80% of constructed surfaces were marketing?"
The MessageLabs report does claim that major Internet service providers have reported a decline in total spam volume and user complaints since the CAN-SPAM legislation became effective, so it appears to be having at least a short-term affect. Still, just like the junk mail in your mailbox spam is most likely here to stay.
Ranum added "The good news about spam is that it's easy to deal with. I use a mail client (Eudora) with built-in bayesian spam filters. It gets about 95% of my spam automatically. So now spam is no more significant to me in percentages than any other form of marketing."
Clearly, with the right software and filters users can greatly reduce or eliminate the amount of spam that actually makes it to their inbox. Even the latest junk mail filters in Outlook and Outlook Express are improved and are able to catch a great deal of spam.
Hopefully between legislation, ISP's filtering known spam and users implementing software and filters to catch the rest this epidemic can be brought under control and users can get the most value and productivity possible out of their email communications.
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